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Presented  by  ^S\~\  <Es  d^\-A'VV'\  o V~ , 


BV  2370  . A7  F69  1908  c.2 
Fox,  John,  1853-1924. 
Around  the  world  for  the 
American  Bible  Society 


Co  a Cljtnese  Colporteur 


O TILL  doth  the  ancient  miracle , begun 
^ With  flaming  tongues  of  harmless  fire,  proceed 
In  Sinim  old ; nova  would  the  Shepherd  lead 
Into  the  fold.  His  other  sheep,  not  one 
Is  lost,  and  He  would  suffer  none 
To  lack  the  Word,  whereon  their  souls  must  feed, 
Wenli  or  Mandarin,  as  each  hath  need. 

Quick  as  the  jewelled  light  flashed  from  the  sun 
From  Chihli  to  Tibet  His  Word  must  run. 

Haste  thee,  O Colporteur!  sow  well  the  seed; 

Bear  His  reproach,  who  soon  will  give  thee  meed 
Of  gracious  praise,  ‘I  know  thy  works, ' * Well  done. ' 
Then  shalt  thou  know  the  Son  of  Heaven,  the  Lord 
Of  the  celestial  country.  The  Eternal  Word. 


J.  F. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2016 


https://archive.org/details/aroundworldforam00foxj_1 


AROUND  THE  WORLD 

for  the 

AMERICAN  BIBLE  SOCIETY 


Being  Twelve  Letters  Descriptive  of  a Visit  to  the 
Society’s  Agencies  in  the  Far  East 


• • • 


By  JOHN  FOX,  D.D. 

Corresponding  Secretary 


NEW  YORK 

AMERICAN  BIBLE  SOCIETY 
1908 


Foreword 


'T^HE  readers  of  these  letters  will  note  that  they  are  neither 
official  reports  nor  the  mere  recital  of  a traveler’s  various 
experience.  They  seek  to  describe  informally  from  the  stand- 
point of  the  American  Bible  Society,  first  of  all,  its  own  work 
— especially  the  self-denying  labors  of  its  Agents  and  Colpor- 
teurs in  their  several  stations  in  the  East.  Connected  with 
this,  very  naturally,  are  the  operations  of  its  sister  societies, 
and  along  with  both  of  these  the  missions  and  missionaries  to 
which  they  are  so  vitally  related.  These  are  not  viewed  as 
isolated  phenomena,  but  as  set  in  their  actual  environment  in 
the  historic  lands  and  among  the  living  people  for  whose 
benefit  they  are  alike  undertaken.  Such  letters  can,  at  the 
best,  but  faintly  portray  the  vivid  hues  and  forms  of  the  living 
realities  which  they  aim  to  describe ; and  these  letters  in  par- 
ticular were,  of  necessity,  so  brief,  and  many  of  them  written 
in  such  haste  under  the  stress  of  travel,  that  they  must  not  be 
considered  more  than  impressionist  sketches.  They  appeared 
first,  month  by  month,  in  the  Bible  Society  Record,  with  the 
exception  of  the  tenth  letter,  written  last  of  all,  and  are  now 
reprinted  with  few  changes  and  additions.  They  will  serve 
their  purpose  if  they  lead  to  a better  understanding  and  ap- 
preciation of  our  Foreign  Missions  in  the  East — and  chiefly,  if 
they  incline  the  friends  of  missions  to  set  greater  value  on  the 
work  of  the  Bible  Societies  as  an  integral  and  essential  part  of 
Missionary  organization. 

JOHN  FOX. 


Bible  House,  January,  1908. 


Table  of  Contents 


I.  New  York,  London  and  Paris 

Crossing  the  Atlantic — Exeter — The  Bible  House  in  London — Creed 
Lane — Paris — The  Bible  House — The  Religious  Controversy. 

II.  Bible  Societies  in  Rome 

The  British  and  Foreign  Depot — The  Society  of  St.  Jerome — Father 
Genocchi.  ........... 

III.  First  Impressions  of  India 

Kandy  and  the  Temple  of  the  Tooth — Southern  India — The  Madura 
Mission — Vellore  and  its  Mission — Lahore — The  Punjab — Dr. 
Ewing — The  Marathi  Mission — Dr.  Hume — Allahabad — The  Work 
of  the  British  Bible  Society.  ........ 

IV.  To  Siam  by  Way  of  Burma  and  Malaysia 

Geography  of  the  East — Indo-China  and  the  English  Possessions — 
Burma — Rangoon — The  Shwe  Dagon  Pagoda — The  Baptist  Mis- 
sion— The  Karens — Penang  and  Malacca — Singapore.  . 

V.  Siam— En  Route  to  China 

Koh-Sichang — Delays  of  Travel — Evangelizing  en-route — Bangkok 
— Ayuthia — Mr.  Carrington  and  his  Work — The  Presbyterian 
Mission — The  Siamese  Princes.  ....... 

VI.  China— First  Impressions 

Hongkong — Canton  and  its  Sights — The  Presbyterian  Mission — Mr. 
Alf  and  his  Colporteurs — The  Chinese  Memory.  .... 

VII.  Shanghai  and  the  Valley  of  the  Yang-tse-Kiang 

Shanghai,  Foreign  and  Chinese — Base-Line  of  Missions — The  Head- 
quarters of  the  American  Bible  Society — Detail  of  the  Work — 
Trip  through  China — Peking — Hankow — Yang-tse  Valley — Kiu- 
kiang — Nanking.  .......... 

VIII.  The  Shanghai  Conference  and  Bible  Translation 

Reports  of  Conference — Its  Organizations — Personnel  and  Methods — 
Value  of  Conclusions — Bible  Translation — Labor  of  Union  Com- 
mittees— Languages  of  China — New  Testament  Versions — Pro- 


vision  for  Old  Testament  Versions — Dialect  Versions — Number 
of  Versions — Women  and  the  Chinese  Bible.  . 

IX.  A Peep  at  Peking  and  Beyond  (for  Boys  and  Girls) 

The  Wheelbarrow  in  China — Mr.  Wang — Peking  a City  of  Cities — 
Signs  of  the  Boxers — The  Altar  and  Temple  of  Heaven — The 
Rev.  Mr.  Elliott  and  the  Bible  House — Ming  Tombs — Chinese 
Wall 

X.  North  China  and  New  China 

The  Chinese  Wall — Mongolia  and  the  Region  Beyond — Manchuria — 
Need  for  Colportage — New  China — Tien-tsin  and  its  Improve- 
ments— Governmental  and  Educational  Progress — A New  Bible 
House  for  New  China.  ......... 

XI.  A Glimpse  of  Korea 

Routes  to  Korea — Fusan — Seoul — The  Missions,  Methodist  and  Pres- 
byterian— The  History  of  Korea — Its  Spiritual  Condition  and 
Extraordinary  Progress — The  Relation  of  the  Bible  Society 
Thereto.  ........... 

XII.  Three  Weeks  in  Japan 

The  Beauty  of  Japan — Nikko — High  Character  of  the  Missionaries — 
Kobe — Kyoto — Colportage  at  a Heathen  Festival — Work  of  the 
Bible  Societies — The  Fukuin  Printing  Company — Mr.  Loomis  and 
his  Work — San  Francisco  via  Honolulu.  . 


(1)  DR.  ARTHUR  H.  SMITH.  (2)  DR.  J.  C.  GIBSON. 

THE  CENTENARY  MISSIONARY  CONFERENCE,  SHANGHAI.  CHINA.  APRIL  25-MAY  7,  1907 


EXETER  CATHEDRAL,  CHURCH  HOME  OF  CANON  EDMONDS 


I.  New  York,  London  and  Paris 


CROSSING  the  Atlantic  has  become  so 
commonplace  a matter  in  American  life 
that  it  will  hardly  need  description.  This 
does  not,  however,  lessen  the  charm,  the  com- 
fort, or  the  marvel  of  it.  A floating  palace  like 
the  Kaiser  Wilhelm  II,  equipped  with  every 
modern  appliance,  mechanical  or  electric,  is  in 
itself  a veritable  wonder-world*  Its  very 
contrast  with  the  more  august  wonder  of  the 
ocean  on  whose  bosom  it  floats  makes  it 
seem  all  the  more  marvelous.  The  wireless 
witchery  surpasses  all  other  magic.  We  left 
New  York  Tuesday  morning,  and  up  to 
Thursday  evening  we  were  within  wireless 
reach  of  America ; by  Friday  night  across 
1,200  miles  of  water  tidings  flashed  out  to  us 
from  England — startling  tidings,  too — of  an 
accident  to  the  Kaiser  Wilhelm  der  Grosse. 
We  dare  not  speculate  what  new  wonders  the 
future  contains.  We  may  hope  for  interna- 
tional telephones,  by  which  modern  business, 
and  especially  the  Lord’s  business,  may  be 
transacted,  with  only  occasional  necessity  for 
the  ocean  ferry. 

On  Sunday  morning  our  kindly  captain 
was  but  too  glad  to  have  me  and  my  com- 
panion— apparently  the  only  clergymen  on 
board — hold  service  and  preach  in  the  first- 
class  saloon,  with  the  excellent  orchestra  to 
play  our  hymn  tunes.  But  my  own  heart 
went  out  to  the  steerage,  where  it  was  not 
possible  to  hold  service,  but  which  I visited 
in  the  afternoon.  Eight  hundred  people 
packed  four  decks  deep  beneath  the  topmost 

3 


steerage  deck  are  not  averse  to  a little 
friendly  greeting  even  from  a stranger, 
though  he  be  unable  to  say  much  to  them. 
Our  New  York,  Pennsylvania,  and  other 
Bible  Societies  must  indeed  meet  the  for- 
eigner as  he  lands — perhaps  as  he  departs. 
Some  day  we  may  offer  him  the  Book  in 
transitu.  Transatlantic  colportage  is  a prob- 
lem to  be  studied. 

We  landed  at  Plymouth  early  Monday 
morning,  November  26th. 

After  a day  at  Exeter — a delicious  frontis- 
piece to  England — where  we  caught  a glimpse 
of  Canon  Edmonds,  whose  address  at  the 
Ecumenical  Conference  of  Missions  in  1900 
is  still  remembered  of  us  all,  we  found  our 
way  to  London  and  in  due  time  to  the  Bible 
House — for  wandering  Bible-men  the  natural 
Mecca  and  goal  of  aspiration.  It  would  take 
too  long  for  me  to  describe,  and  it  has 
already  been  better  described  in  print  in  the 
Centenary  pamphlet,  “Our  Treasure  House,” 
to  which  we  would  refer  all  who  cannot  see 
the  House  for  themselves,  or  more  recently 
in  the  November  number  of  The  Bible  in  the 
World.  Let  me  add  (for  those  unlearned) 
that  this  is  the  monthly  magazine  of  the  Brit- 
ish and  Foreign  Bible  Society.  Begun  in 
1866,  its  foundation  stone  laid  by  the  then 
Prince  of  Wales  (now His  Majesty  the  King), 
and  finished  in  1868,  it  is  a model  of  simple 
elegance  and  dignity  to  the  eye  and  a well- 
planned  and  well-equipped  workhouse  for  the 
officials  and  committees,  who  send  out  from 


8 


Around  the  World  for  the  American  Bible  Society 


it,  in  round  numbers,  7,000  volumes  every 
working  day.  Of  all  its  treasures,  doubtless 
the  choicest  is  the  library  of  10,000  Bibles  in 
500  or  more  languages,  and  time  would  fail 
me  to  tell  of  this  or  of  a dozen  other  things 
only  less  interesting.  The  Bible  House  is 
situated  in  a neighborhood  full  of  fascination 
to  the  lover  of  England  and  English  history. 
Its  nomenclature  is  saturated  with  the  memo- 
ries of  an  elder  day. 

Creed  Lane 

Right  next  to  the  Bible  House  stands  an 
old  parish  church  where  William  Romeyn, 
among  others,  once  preached.  It  is  named 
after  two  saints,  St.  Anne  and  St.  Andrew, 
who,  once  separated,  are  now  joined  in  this 
edifice.  “ St.  Andrew’s  by  the  Wardrobe  ” is 
quaintly  so  called  because  Edward  III  cos- 
tumes were 
once  stored 
thereabouts. 

I found  my- 
self, as  it  fell 
out,  in  War- 
wick Lane , 
and  asked  my 
way.  “Go 
down  Creed 
Lane,”  one 

said, “or ” 

but  I heard  no 
more  , for  I 
said,  “ Creed 
Lane  is  good 
enough  for 
me  but,  as 
will  some- 
times happen 
to  those  who 
follow  creeds, 

I grew  a little 
perplexed, 
and  this  time  asked  a policeman,  one  of  those 
good  ge?iii  who  have  oversight  of  the  wander- 
ing mazes  of  London  town,  and  he  replied, 
“ Go  right  down  Godlyman  Street,”  and  so  I 
did ; for  although  I believe  in  creeds,  even 
more  I love  the  society  of  godly  men,  and  so 
presently  found  myself  as  in  a dream,  won- 
dering whether  I had  been  transformed  into 
a somebody  in  the  Pilgrim’s  Progress  as  I 
came  over  St.  Andrew’s  Hill,  and  then  in  a 
little  while  was  received  into  the  goodly  fel- 
lowship of  all  the  saints  of  the  Bible  House. 
I had  begun  my  day  by  worshiping  in  St. 
Paul’s,  but  found  the  church  in  the  Bible 
House  not  less  comforting. 

An  Englishman’s  house  may  be  his  castle ; 
the  Bible  House,  however,  is  not  unlike  a 
palace  and  yet  more  like  a home,  first  for  the 


Bible  itself,  then  for  the  Society,  who  have  in 
a measure  custody  thereof.  It  was  my  rare 
privilege  to  be  made  at  home  there  and  to 
taste  the  warmth  of  an  English  welcome, 
which  can  only  be  described  by  saying  that 
the  very  essence  of  Christmas  cheer  was  in  it, 
as  is  meet  and  right  no  doubt  at  the  Advent 
season.  It  was  not,  however,  courtesy  alone  ; 
discussions  and  conferences  over  the  knotty 
problems  of  versions,  editions,  and  circula- 
tion followed  during  the  week  which  followed, 
but  the  most  vivid  impression  from  beginning 
to  end  was  that  these  two  Societies  are  truly 
auxiliary  to  each  other  in  the  fulfillment  of 
the  great  tasks  committed  to  them. 

Now  we  are  in  Paris,  with  a day  at  Cher- 
bourg. The  picturesque  coast  of  Normandy 
had  nothing  more  picturesque  for  me  than  its 
children,  of  whom  it  seemed  to  have,  judging 

from  Cher- 
bourg, a full 
share.  Some 
of  our  “ Bible 
lovers  ” may 
be  interested 
to  look  on  the 
pictures  of 
one  of  these 
little  groups. 
In  Paris  our 
kind  Dr.  Ber- 
trand, Secre- 
tary of  the 
Societe  Bib- 
1 i q u e d e 
France  has, 
with  his  fam- 
i 1 y , greatly 
helped  me  to 
do  what  need- 
ed to  be  done. 

Paris  is — 
Paris,  unique, 
fascinating,  mysterious,  but  how  the  heart 
longs  to  see  the  Bible  set  in  its  proper 
place  ! The  modest  Bible  House  on  the  Rue 
de  Lille  stands  outwardly  in  notable  contrast 
with  the  glitter  of  the  Opera  House  or  the 
Louvre  or  the  Sainte  Chapelle.  A hasty  vis- 
it to  the  Sorbonne,  with  its  crowds  of  eager 
student  enthusiasts  deepens  one’s  impression, 
already  strong  enough,  that  America  has  a 
debt  to  France,  not  yet  fully  paid.  We  must 
help  give  the  saving  salt  of  a divine  literature 
that  the  learning,  the  wit,  the  philosophy,  the 
aesthetic  culture  of  La  Belle  France  may 
be  delivered  from  the  corruption  of  this 
world  and  its  fictitious  glories.  May  we  be 
able  to  help  the  Societe  Biblique  de  France 
in  years  to  come  as  in  years  past. 

We  seemed  to  have  happened  in  France  at 


STREET  SCENE  IN  NORMANDY 


New  York,  London  and  Paris 


9 


a psychological  moment  in  its  checkered  re- 
ligious history.  The  government  has  made  a 
new  law  providing  for  the  due  recognition  of 
all  religious  organizations  as  legal ; all  equally 
entitled  to  the  protection  of  the  State,  and  all 
alike  subject  to  its  authority  in  matters  be- 
longing to  the  civil  sphere.  Each  worship- 
ing congregation  is  required  to  form . an 
“ association  culture  lie,”  or  ''‘'worship  associa- 
te,” much  as  our  own  congregations  are 
wont  to  do.  I was  present  at  the  American 
Chapel  on  Sunday,  and  witnessed  what 
seemed  to  correspond  to  the  election  of  a 
Board  of  Trustees,  mutatis  mutandis.  This 
law  all  Protestant  churches  comply  with,  but  as 
if  to  mark  the  contrast,  the  Pope  rejected  even 
the  generous  compromise  which  M.  Briand, 
Minister  of  Public  Worship,  had  offered  to 
save  the  Roman  conscience,  and  peremptorily 
ordered  his  clergy  to  disobey  the  law.  “ They 
wish  war,”  M.  Clemenceau  is  quoted  in  the 
Matin  as  saying,  “war  they  shall  have,”  and 
war  a I'outrance  it  seems  likely  to  be — shut- 


ting the  doors  of  Roman  churches  generally 
as  a penalty.  Never  was  the  papal  theory  of 
church  government  reduced  to  more  palpable 
absurdity.  His  Holiness  cannot  even  per- 
mit his  clergy  (though  they  are  many  of  them 
not  of  his  mind)  to  obey  the  most  necessary 
law  of  a modern  state,  and  render  to  Caesar 
Caesar’s  due.  The  contrast  between  this  and 
the  Bible-governed  Reformed  Church  of 
France  is  marked. 

The  loveliest  sight  that  my  eyes  beheld  in 
Paris  was  not  the  Boulevards  nor  the  Champs 
Elysees  nor  any  temple  of  art  or  culture  : but 
a little  group  of  children  in  the  Ecole  de 
Dimanche  (the  more  familiar  Sunday  School, 
dear  to  our  American  speech),  where  a young 
girl,  baton  in  hand,  taught  the  children  to 
sing  their  “Chansons  Noel.”  I heard,  though 
with  imperfect  understanding,  the  good  pas- 
teur  open  the  Scriptures  to  these  eager  little 
listeners,  and  felt  my  own  heart  burn  within 
me  as  our  intercessions  for  each  other  ascended 
to  the  Throne  of  the  Heavenly  Grace. 


THE  KAISER  WILHELM  II 


10 


Around  the  World  for  the  American  Bible  Society 


II.  Bible  Societies  in  Rome 


BAEDEKER’S  GUIDE 
1 has  earned  so  rare  a 
place  in  the  good  opinion 
of  travelers  that  it  is  al- 
most counted  like  finding 
spots  on  the  sun  to  pick 
flaws  in  it.  But  the  good 
Baedeker  nods  once,  even 
in  the  latest  edition,  in  that 
it  makes  no  allusion  what- 
ever to  the  British  and 
Foreign  Bible  Society  and 
its  well-appointed  depot  at 
63  Via  due  Macelli.  Inas- 
much as  the  learned  au- 
thor mentions  everything 
else,  from  the  Vatican  and 
the  Coliseum  down  to 
fans  and  umbrellas,  it 
would  not  be  amiss  to  no- 
tice a place  which,  though 
devoid  of  pretension  to 
earthly  renown,  is  likely  to 
become  a center  of  power 
in  Rome.  Christian  people 
might  profitably  pay  a visit 
to  the  Rev.  John  Thomas, 
the  Society’s  Agent,  whose 
office  it  is  thus  to  minister 
the  Eternal  Word  in  the 
Eternal  City.  The  Bible 
Society  of  Scotland  is  also 
well  represented  by  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Gray,  the  pastor 
formany  years  of  the 
Scotch  Presbyterian 
Church.  The  former  soci- 
ety reports  for  last  year  a total  circulation  in 
.Italy  of  116,578  copies,  at  an  expenditure  of 
^7,734,  and  with  thirty-two  colporteurs.  This 
is  a good  record  indeed,  considering  that  in 
Italy  every  third  man  and  every  second 
woman  is  illiterate. 

Our  own  American  Society  also  makes  a 
vearly  grant  to  the  mission  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  in  Italy,  whose  headquarters 
ere  in  Rome. 

But  there  is  another  agency,  more  recently 
begun,  of  which  the  Record  has  already 
spoken — the  Society  of  St.  Jerome,  nomen 
clarissime , organized  under  the  authorization 
of  the  Vatican  itself.  It  has  already  published 
the  Gospels  and  Acts  in  popular  and  excellent 
Italian  (with  notes),  and  now  contemplates 
the  publication  of  the  Epistles.  These  books 
the  society  circulates  at  very  cheap  prices,  and 
the  number  of  copies  scattered  thus  all  over 


Italy  now  reaches  400,000. 
In  Rome  it  can  be  obtained 
at  63  Via  due  Macelli, 
though  not  as  a part  of  the 
ordinary  transactions  o f 
the  Bible  Society. 

Encouraged  and  aided, 
therefore,  by  Mr.  Thomas, 
I ventured  to  present  my- 
self at  the  College  of  the 
Sacred  Heart,  in  which 
Father  Giovanni  Genocchi, 
prominently  connected 
with  the  Society  of  St. 
Jerome,  is  a professor.  All 
doubt  as  to  what  my  wel- 
come would  be  vanished 
when  Father  Genocchi  met 
me  on  the  threshold  with 
a greeting  so  hearty  that 
it  made  me  feel  at  home 
at  once.  Sitting  in  his  par- 
lor chatting  familiarly  on 
topics  of  mutual  interest, 
especially  in  connection 
with  the  Bible  and  what  it 
stands  for,  it  was  hard  to 
realize  that  we  were  not  in 
the  Bible  House.  A day  or 
two  later  my  host  became 
my  guest  at  afternoon  tea 
at  our  hotel,  where  a few 
congenial  friends  were 
gathered  ; an  informal  ex- 
pression was  given  to  the 
reality  of  that  spiritual 
oneness  which  binds  to- 
gether all  who  love  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 
My  party  went  on  next  day  to  Naples  in  order 
to  be  ready  to  take  ship  there,  while  I tarried 
a few  hours  longer  at  Rome  to  enjoy  again 
Roman  hospitality. 

This  time  I was  Father  Genocchi’s  guest  at 
the  college  commons  in  their  refectory.  It  is 
a missionary  college  ; its  students  are  mostly 
the  missionaries-to-be  to  New  Guinea,  where 
Father  Genocchi  himself  labored  for  years, 
coming  there  into  spiritual  touch  with  a Scot- 
tish Presbyterian,  St.  James — the  devoted  and 
now  martyred  James  Chalmers.  It  was  my 
great  privilege  to  break  bread  with  professors 
and  students  in  the  fellowship  of  college  life, 
bowing  at  first  as  we  stood  about  the  table  in 
the  use  of  the  solemn  and  beautiful  Latin 
“ Benedicite.”  A spirit  of  Christmas  cheer 
seemed  present.  Father  Genocchi  speaks  ex- 
cellent English,  and  so  do  some  of  his  students, 


THE  REV.  P.  GIOVANNI  GENOCCHI 
Professor  in  the  College  of  the  Sacred  Heart, 
Rome,  Italy 


Bible  Societies  in  Rome 


11 


THE  COLISEUM  AND  ARCH  OF  TITUS 


who  are  Americans 
and  Italian- Americans. 

With  the  rest,  we  soon 
fell  into  a kind  of  patois 
of  French  and  Spanish, 
in  condescension  to  my 
linguistic  infirmities. 

Dejeuner  finished,  we 
adjourned  to  the  col- 
lege library  for  “ coffee 
and  repartee,”  or, 
rather,  for  frank  and 
sympathetic  converse 
over  the  topics  that 
are  natural  to  such  an 
occasion  and  amid  such 
learned  surroundings, 
in  the  library  and  after- 
ward in  my  host’s 
parlor. 

The  Codex  Vaticanus, 
the  Septuagint,  the 
place  of  St.  Augustine  in  theology,  even  the 
intellectual  rank  of  John  Calvin,  were  touched 
on.  It  was  interesting  to  note  that  besides 
shelves  full  of  patrology,  there  were  others  al- 


SCALA  SANTA 


most  as  full  of  modern  theological  works,  and 
that  in  English,  which  tongue  I was  told  was 
commonly  learned,  at  least  as  a reading  lan- 
guage. The  young  men  seemed  alert  and 
awake  to  modern  thought,  as  well  as  to  an- 
cient precedent.  Such  an  atmosphere,  let  us 
be  sure,  means  a searching  of  the  Scriptures, 
and  our  Lord  will,  as  of  old,  open  the  Scrip- 
tures to  these  with  whom  he  still  walks  and 
makes  himself  known  in  the  breaking  of  bread. 
May  he  never  vanish  out  of  their  sight. 

I have  wandered  during  the  last  few  days, 
visiting  the  familiar  places  that  I learned  to 
love  twenty-five  years  ago.  Father  Genocchi 
was  a student  in  Rome  then,  he  told  me. 
‘‘Rome  has  changed  much  in  twenty-five 
years,”  he  added,  “and  for  the  better;  yes, 
for  the  better.” 

The  Coliseum  still  stands,  and  Rome  with 
it.  In  St.  Peter’s  the  poor  peasants  were  still 
kissing  away  the  bronze  toe  of  the  statue, 
and  I heard  again  the  antiphonal  chanting  of 
the  priests  in  the  choir  chapel.  “Italy  has 
no  religion,”  a young  Italian  sadly  confessed 
to  me,  he  himself  having  been  partly  educated 
by  the  Benedictines  in  a famous  monastery. 
But  the  Lord  has  his  faithful  ones  in  whom  his 
Word  abides.  Let  us  lift  our  hearts  in  prayer 
— the  true  sea/a  santa — that  Rome  may  again 
become  the  Light  of  Italy,  or,  if  it  please 
God,  of  the  world — a veritable  mater  ecclesi- 
arum. 

And  may  the  Society  of  St.  Jerome  live  to 
publish  more  abundantly  the  Verbum  Dei. 

Since  the  above  was  written  the  Pope  has  addressed  a letter 
to  Cardinal  Cassetta.  the  Honorary  President  of  the  Society, 
commending  it  in  glowing  terms  for  what  it  has  done,  but  alas  ! 
requiring  it  to  “ hold  as  a sufficient  field  of  labor  for  itself  to 
publish  the  Gospels  and  Acts  of  the  Apostles."  This  restriction 
must  be  a sad  interruption,  and  perhaps  foreshadows  others 
still  more  serious. 


12 


Around  the  World  for  the  American  Bible  Society 


III.  First  Impressions  of  India 


THREE  weeks  in  India  can  hardly  entitle 
the  traveler  to  do  more  than  set  down 

his  first  im- 
pressions, to- 
gether with 
such  facts  as 
he  may  have 
gathered.  In 
the  present 
case  this  is 
further  lim- 
ited by  the 
point  of  view 
of  the  traveler, 
which  is  gen- 
erally  mis- 
sionary and 
specifically 
what  centers 
in  the  Bible 
House. 

Landing  at 
Colombo,  Kan- 
dy is  within 
easy  reach — a 
charming  bit 
of  greenery 
1,700  feet 
above  the  sea 
and  surround- 
ed by  moun- 
tains 5,000  or 
6,000  feet 
higher,  which 
are  clad  with 
verdure  to 
their  very 
summits.  It 
might  easily 
mislead  the 
uninformed, 
for  it  throws 
Buddhism  in- 
to the  fore- 
ground of  the 
picture  quite 
out  of  focus, 
as  though  In- 
dia were  a 
Buddhist 
country.  Re- 
membering 
that  Sakya- 
muni  first  ap- 
peared as  a re- 
ligious leader 
in  Benares,  it  is 


easy  to  forget  that  he  failed  in  India,  and  that 
his  followers  number  much  less  than  one  per 
cent  of  the  population  of  the  empire. 

As  we  rode  along  in  the  train  en  route  to 
Kandy,  a picturesque  procession  of  priests  in 
their  saffron  robes  and  umbrellas  heightened 
the  impression  of  Buddhism  as  a living  real- 
ity. In  Kandy  the  attraction  to  sightseers  is 
the  famous  “Temple  of  the  Tooth.”  This  is 
not,  sit  venia  verbo,  a glorification  of  dentistry, 
but  is  due  to  a large  tooth  (as  large  as  an 
alligator’s,  people  say),  carefully  kept  in  a 
shrine,  which  no  one  may  see  without  special 
permission  from  some  very  high  official.  It 
is  said  to  be  Buddha’s  tooth,  and  before  its 
shrine  his  followers  worship,  although,  as  is 
well  known,  “ Lord  Gautama’s  ” first  message 
was  against  all  idolatry.  The  beautiful  tem- 
ple and  its  sacred  enclosure  are  quiet  and  sug- 
gestive of  meditation,  rather  than  the  showy 
and  sensuous  spectacles  to  which  we  were 
soon  to  be  introduced  in  southern  India. 

I found  my  way  to  the  library,  which  is  not 
unworthy  of  the  name  and  traditions  of  the 
sage.  The  librarian-priest  brought  forth  his 
treasures  to  show  me — one  precious  manu- 
script which  he  said  was  eight  hundred  years 
old.  Seeing  a book  in  a locked  case,  I asked 
what  it  was.  “ It  is  a Roman  Catholic  Bible,” 
he  replied,  but  when  brought  out  it  was  seen 
to  be  a Sanskrit  Bible  published  by  the  Ameri- 
can and  Foreign  (Baptist)  Bible  Society. 
Near  it  in  this  Buddhist  arcanum  was  a copy 
of  the  Singalese  Bible  published  by  the  Brit- 
ish and  Foreign  Bible  Society.  Thus  the 
seed  is  sown  beside  all  waters.  Since  then 
we  have  seen  many  Hindoo  temples  and  some 
Mohammedan  mosques,  but  no  Buddhist 
shrines. 

From  Colombo  we  went,  of  course,  to 
southern  India,  visiting  the  great  Hindoo 
temples  at  Madura,  Trichinopoli,  Tanjore, 
Vellore,  and,  latest  of  all,  at  Benares  in 
northern  India,  and  worst  of  all  also.  One 
may  read  of  it  and  hear  of  it  all  his  life,  but  it 
is  with  an  altogether  new  sense  of  the  strength 
of  the  clutch  of  false  religion  on  its  devotees 
that  we  behold  the  worship  of  the  grinning 
monkey  god,  and  the  grotesque  elephant 
god,  and  a long  array  of  other  hideosities 
which  still  hold  these  hapless  children  of  the 
East  in  cruel  bondage. 

The  marks  of  Siva  and  Vishnu  are  daubed 
on  the  foreheads  of  coolie  and  scholar  alike. 
You  see  them  everywhere.  Ganesh,  and  the 
dark  Durga,  and  the  malign  Kali  are  your 
familiars  until  it  is  easy  to  understand  with 


First  Impressions  of  India 


13 


what  a spell  these  dark  phantoms  of  the  mind 
must  hold  these  poor  people,  who  have  never 
known  anything  else.  All  the  more  is  this 
true  when  the  roots  of  these  evil  supersti- 
tions are  tangled  with  the  meshes  of  the  black 
magic  of  the  caste  system.  It  seemed  the 
more  pitiful  when  it  is  so  plain  that  this  peo- 
ple is  itself  of  a noble  caste  when  compared 
with  other  peoples,  not  only  capable  of  higher 
things  but  of  having  achieved  them.  The  Taj, 
an  exquisite  love  poem  in  stone,  and  the  Pearl 
Mosque  are  enough  to  prove  this. 

It  is  pleasant  to  remember  that  we  are  of 
the  same  Aryan  stock  and  have  many  points 
of  natural  affinity.  Linguistically  we  and 
most  of  Europe  inherit  from  the  Sanskrit. 
Nor  need  we  disparage 
the  greatness  of  their 
earlier  sages  and  the  al- 
most splendor  of  their 
later  philosophical  pan- 
theism. Nevertheless, 
and  with  all  the  abate- 
ments made  which  one’s 
heart  impels  him  to  make, 
it  is  the  sobering  fact  that 
the  valiant  band  of  Chris- 
tian missionaries  are 
wrestling  not  with  flesh 
and  blood,  but  with  giant 
forms  of  hoary  iniquity, 
and  the  great  mass  of  the 
common  people  in  India 
must  be  lifted  as  a man 
lifts  a dead  weight.  It 
it  a grim  and  deadly  bat- 
tle, but  no  one  who  has 
seen,  as  I have  seen,  as 
many  as  five  well-organ- 
ized missions  out  of  the 
many  that  exist  can  doubt 
the  issue. 

At  Madura  we  were 
hospitably  treated  by  the 
missionaries  of  the  American  Board  of  Com- 
missioners for  Foreigr  Missions,  at  their 
head  Dr.  J.  P.  Jones,  whose  praise  is  in  all 
the  churches.  At  Vellore  I had  but  part  of 
the  day  to  see,  with  Dr.  Wyckoff,  the  splen- 
did Arcot  Mission  of  the  Reformed  (Dutch) 
Church  of  America.  From  there  it  was  a far 
cry  to  Lahore  in  the  north  to  see  the  Punjab 
(Presbyterian)  Mission,  and  especially  the 
Foreman  Christian  College,  with  Dr.  J.  C.  R. 
Ewing  at  its  head,  a man  with  a boundless 
influence  in  the  Punjab ; and  it  was  delight- 
ful, midway  between  these  two,  to  receive 
the  generous  welcome  of  the  master  mission- 
ary, Dr.  R.  A.  Hume,  and  his  choice  com- 
pany of  scholars  and  well-skilled  laborers  in 
the  Marathi  Mission  at  Ahmednagar. 


A glance  at  the  map  will  show  those  who 
have  patience  to  follow  that  it  is  no  light  un- 
dertaking to  cover  so  much  territory  in  a 
short  time.  From  Lahore  to  Allahabad,  with 
its  thriving  Presbyterian  College  under  Dr. 
A.  H.  Ewing,  and  thence,  via  Benares,  to 
Calcutta,  where  we  are  to  embark  for  Ran- 
goon and  Singapore  at  dawn  to-morrow,  has 
brought  up  our  total  to  about  4,000  miles  of 
travel.  It  is  impossible  within  the  limits  of 
such  an  article  to  paint  details  or  give  the 
minutiae  relating  to  these  five  important 
strategic  centers  of  missionary  operations. 
They  are  probably,  taken  together,  fairly 
typical  of  the  American  missions  in  India. 
In  their  range  they  embrace  all  forms  of 
evangelizing  activity. 
There  is,  first,  education 
from  the  kindergarten, 
where  it  was  sweet  to 
hear  little  girls  sing  our 
western  music  to  Ma- 
rathi words,  up  to  the 
full  academic  and  post- 
graduate courses  of  a 
well-organized  college, 
leading  its  students  to 
university  degrees  of 
B.  A.  and  M.  A.,  San- 
skrit and  Persian  taking 
the  place  of  Latin  and 
Greek.  Then  comes 
“ evangelizing  ” in  the 
more  restricted  sense 
of  the  word — that  is, 
preaching  in  the  bazaars, 
itinerating  in  the  vil- 
lages, and  in  various 
ways. 

Medical  work  in  the 
hospitals,  both  for  men 
and  for  women,  bulks 
largely — industrial  train- 
ing also ; and  then  the 
usual  forms  of  organized  church  life.  To  men- 
tion one  shining  instance,  I saw  a Bible  class 
of  young  women  who  have  been  studying  with 
careful  exegesis  the  Book  of  Amos.  Their 
teacher,  Miss  Swift,  of  the  Madura  Mission,  is 
a gifted,  scholarly  woman  who  has  published 
her  own  text-books.  She  assured  me  that  she 
found  no  lack  of  interest  in  the  study  of  the 
Old  Testament  as  well  as  the  New  among  her 
pupils.  How  many  women  at  home  study 
Amos  ? I count  it  one  of  the  privileges  of  a 
lifetime  to  have  spoken  to  two  audiences  of 
four  hundred  college  men  at  Lahore  and  again 
to  one  hundred  at  Allahabad,  of  which  the  vast 
majority  were  either  Hindoo  or  Mohammedan 
in  creed.  More  responsive  and  eager  listeners 
I never  had  anywhere. 


14 


Around  the  World  for  the  American  Bible  Society 


At  Ahmednagar  Dr.  Hume  asked  me  to 
speak  of  the  Bible  to  his  inspiring  audience 
of  twelve  hundred  Hindoo  Christians  gath- 
ered in  the  splendid  church  recently  finished 
for  them,  and  at  Lahore  I had  an  audience 
less  in  number,  but  of  like  quality. 

These  impressions  of  the  growth  and  power 
of  Christian  missions  in  a country  still  non- 
Christian,  and  in  general  intensely  anti-Chris- 
tian, were  sharpened  one  morning  when  a 
native  face,  with  that  charming  smile  which 
I have  learned  to  think  characteristic  of  India, 
appeared  at  the  window  of  our  railway  car- 
riage and  in  broken  English  besought  us  to 
buy  some  Tamil  Gospels  and  other  portions 
of  the  Bible.  This  was  “ Chota  hazri  ” (the 
“ little  breakfast  ” of  India),  which  everyone 
takes  before  the  heavier  breakfast,  in  a sense 
novel  and  refreshing.  What  would  all  this 
mission  work  amount  to  minus  the  Bible  ? 
The  early  morning  colporteur  is  a fair  sample 
of  what  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society 
has  done  and  is  doing  all  over  India.  We 
met  it  first  at  Kandy,  where  the  pastor  of  the 
Scotch  Church  (composed  largely  of  the 
Eurasian  people,  but  having  a Scotch  elder 
of  the  best  type)  gave  the  Bible  work  his 
supervision  and  support,  his  elder  helping 
him  in  it. 

From  Ceylon  to  the  Punjab  the  same  im- 
pressions meet  us  wherever  we  go,  of  a well- 
planned  and  well-executed  programme  for  the 
supply  of  the  Scriptures  to  the  missionaries 
and  their  churches,  and  through  them  as 
rapidly  as  possible  to  all  readers.  So  far  as 
figures  can  tell  it,  650,000  copies  annually  is 
the  net  result,  but  figures  can  only  adumbrate 


the  magnitude  of  the  blessing  brought  to 
India  by  this  mother  of  Bible  societies,  whose 
adequacy  for  the  task  divinely  committed  to 
her  never  seems  better  illustrated  than  in 
India. 

The  Bible  House  at  Allahabad  is  under  the 
direction,  it  is  pleasant  to  record,  of  an 
American  Presbyterian  missionary,  the  Rev. 
T.  S.  Wynkoop,  who  represents  the  British 
and  Foreign  Bible  Society  officially,  and 
who  has  long  been  familiar  with  India 
and  its  needs.  It  is  not  exclusively  a 
‘‘Bible  House,”  but  the  Tract  Society  in 
it  provides  the  religious  literature  needed 
for  mission  work,  a storage  reservoir  both 
for  the  Bible  and  the  literature  which  it  has 
created.  Though  not  as  beautiful  as  the  Taj, 
it  means  more  for  India.  With  this  as  a base, 
Mr.  Wynkoop  has  a carefully  planned  system 
of  colportage  by  which,  with  fifty  or  more 
colporteurs,  he  reaches  (with  the  co-opera- 
tion of  the  missionaries)  an  immense  popu- 
lation. 

As  the  illiterate  millions  learn  to  read,  and 
this  we  may  be  assured  they  will  do  in  the 
not  distant  future,  the  resources  of  the  Bible 
Society  and  its  supporters  may  be  more 
severely  taxed.  Our  British  and  Foreign 
brethren  are  able  to  say  that  they  have  never 
refused  a request  from  any  mission.  It  is  a 
noble  record  and  will  never,  we  hope,  need  to 
be  changed.  The  tale  of  blessings  brought 
by  the  British  to  India  must  include  this  as 
one  of  the  chiefest.  We  may  envy  them, 
with  innocuous  envy,  their  splendid  oppor- 
tunity, and  congratulate  them  that  they  use  it 
so  well. 


THE  TAJ  MAHAL 


To  Siam  by  IMay  of  Burma  and  Malaysia 


15 


IV.  To  Siam  by  Way  of  Burma  and  Malaysia 


THE  geography  of  this  part  of  the  world 
is  rather  obscure  in  the  minds  of  many 
Americans,  even  those  ordinarily  well  in- 
formed. Letters  to  Penang,  we  were  told, 
are  often  addressed  to  China,  and  one  had 
just  come  when  we  arrived  addressed  to 
South  Africa.  It  is  not  strange  that  there 
should  be  some  confusion.  Indo-China  is 
charted  on  some  maps  as  stretching  from 
Burma  to  Annam,  including  the  whole  of  that 
great  peninsula  of  which  northern  Siam  is 
about  the  center.  The  name  is  applied,  how- 
ever, by  others  and  more  usually  rather  to 
the  French  possessions,  Cambodia,  Cochin 
China,  Annam,  and  Tonquin.  The  approach 
to  Bangkok,  therefore,  from  Calcutta  is  by 
way  of  Rangoon,  where  we  were  compelled 
to  wait  three  days  for  a steamer  connection. 
It  was  not  at  all  hard  to  be  resigned  to  this, 
for  it  gave  us  at  least  a glimpse  of  Burma 
and  forms  a good  introduction  to  the  Indo- 
China  peninsula,  the  pendant  to  the  Indian 
peninsula. 

Burma  is  indeed  classed  politically  as  part 
of  India,  being  under  British  rule,  but  its  geo- 
graphic and  ethnic  relationship  puts  it  into  a 
different  category.  It  is  a good  way  to  ap- 
proach Siam  for  another  reason — it  is  pre- 
dominantly Buddhist,  just  as  Siam  is,  though 
the  latter  is  so  in  even  a greater  degree.  The 
Buddhism  of  Burma  is  compounded  appar- 
ently with  the  aboriginal  nature-worship 
which  the  race  now  dominant  there  found 
when  they  entered  it  from  the  north.  The 
worship  oinats  (good  and  evil  spirits,  or  genii) 
is  a curious  phenomenon,  and  is  strangely 
fused  with  the  system  of  religious  atheism 
known  as  Buddhism. 

Rangoon  is  not  thoroughly  Buddhist  by  any 
means,  just  as  India  is  not  all  Hindoo.  The 
day  of  our  arrival  one  of  the  daily  papers 
contained  an  account  of  a serious  riot  be- 
tween Hindoo  and  Mohammedan  laborers  at 
Insein,  ten  miles  outside  of  the  city.  The 
Hindoos  resented  the  proposed  killing  of  a 
cow  by  the  Mohammedans  as  an  insult  to 
their  religious  faith,  attacked  the  Mohammed- 
ans, killed  two  and  wounded  six,  and  were 
even  then  with  difficulty  subdued  by  the  po- 
lice. A large  fraction  of  the  population  come 
from  India  and  are  either  Hindoo  or  Moham- 
medan in  religion.  In  Mandalay,  the  old 
capital,  however,  152,000  out  of  178,000  are 
Buddhist,  and  this  is  more  truly  an  exponent 
of  Burma  in  general.  In  Rangoon  Buddhism 
is  the  dominant  cult. 

Here  is  the  greatest  of  Buddhist  shrines, 


the  famous  Shwe  Dagon,  or  Golden  Padoga. 
It  contains — mirabile  dictu — eight  hairs  of 
Buddha,  besides  other  relics  only  less  sacro- 
sanct. These  are  buried  in  an  edifice  so 
unique  that  it  deserves  its  rank  among  the 
wonders  of  the  Orient.  It  is  quite  impossible 
to  describe  it  briefly.  In  architectural  fame 
it  is  not  improperly  classed  with  the  Taj 
Mahal,  from  which,  however,  it  is  separated 
by  a chasm  if  considered  with  reference  to 
any  ideal  of  beauty.  The  chasteness,  deli- 
cacy, and  exquisite  grace  of  the  Indian  mas- 
terpiece must  be  forgotten  before  we  can  ad- 
mire the  Shwe  Dagon.  Yet  it  has  its  own 
fascination.  One  of  our  party,  on  the  theory 
that  architecture  is  frozen  music,  likened  it 
to  the  Hungarian  Rhapsody,  and  another, 
with  more  audacity,  suggested  the  most 
Browningesque  of  Browning’s  poems,  “ Sor- 
dello,”  for  instance,  as  belonging  in  the  same 
order  of  architecture. 

The  pagoda  proper  is  1,350  feet  in  circum- 
ference and  375  in  height,  or  a little  higher 
than  St.  Paul’s  Cathedral  in  London.  This 
vast  erection,  beginning  as  an  octagon  of 
brick,  swells  into  a dome  shape,  and  then,  di- 
minishing as  it  rises  higher  into  a cylindrical 
spire,  reaches  its  climax  in  a htee,  or  metal 
umbrella.  It  is  covered  with  gold  leaf  almost 
from  the  base  to  the  very  top,  and  its  htee  is 
further  adorned  with  costly  jewels. 

“ If  thou  wouldst  view  fair  Melrose  aright, 

Go  visit  it  by  the  pale  moonlight.” 

But  no  Sir  Walter  of  Burma  has  yet  sung, 
as  some  wizard  of  the  East  might,  the  Shwe 
Dagon  by  moonlight.  Its  magic  bewitches 
the  eye,  while  the  ear  is  carried  captive  by  a 
chime  of  1,200  or  1,500  gold  and  silver  bells 
hung  in  the  very  top.  This  unseen  chime, 
usually  inaudible  by  day,  is  swayed  by  the 
night  wind  into  an  irregular  but  altogether 
delicious  symphony,  now  swelling,  now  dying 
away,  but  never  quite  ceasing  its  aerial  tin- 
tinnabulation. Shakespeare  never  fancied 
anything  more  enchanting  for  the  fairies  of 
a midsummer  night’s  dream  ; or  Tennyson, 
with  his  ‘ horns  of  elfland  faintly  blowing.’ 

But  at  the  base  of  this  strange  and  splendid 
structure,  echoing  with  its  midnight  min- 
strelsy, a picturesque  but  saddening  spectacle 
is  never  absent  by  day,  continuing  often  far 
into  the  night.  Around  the  greater  are  lesser 
shrines,  containing  innumerable  marble  and 
gilded  colossal  images  of  Lord  Gautama.  I 
counted  forty  more  shrines.  He  who  forbade 
all  images  to  his  followers,  yea,  even  forbade 
God  himself  to  be  in  their  thoughts  as  a per- 


16 


Around  the  World  for  the  American  Bible  Society 


sonal  God,  is  imaged  everywhere,  with  vain 
repetition.  In  a thousand  bizarre  and  gro- 
tesquely carved  shrines  and  pillars,  some  of 
them  echoing  with  greater  bells  than  those 
hanging  far  above,  a throng  of  men  and 
women  are  bowing  down,  as  in  ancient  times 
idolaters  bowed  before  the  golden  image  of 
Nebuchadnezzar.  Flowers  and  incense  are 
for  sale  in  the  approaches  to  the  shrines,  and 
the  great  stone-paved  court  about  the  pagoda 
seemed  like  a rendezvous  for  friends  and 
acquaintances  (and  for  dogs  also),  as  well  as 
a shrine. 

The  Burmese  are  famous  for  their  kindly 
manners  and  pleasant  ways,  and  all  these 
may  be  seen  and  felt  by  the  passing  stranger 
as  he  mingles  with  them.  He  must  be  dull 
of  heart,  though,  who  can  pass  by  without 
seeing  the  infinite  pitifulness  of  it  all — the 
bondage  to  puerile  superstition  hardly  mask- 
ing an  essential  atheism.  No  gilding  or  re- 
gilding either  by  oriental  architects  or  occi- 
dental poets  can  effectually  disguise  its  true 
inwardness. 

Burma  is  filled  with  pagodas,  some  scarcely 
less  beautiful  than  this.  Its  “ tinkly  temple 
bells  ” ring  everywhere  and  bear  witness  to 
the  groaning  desires  of  the  human  heart  for 
the  true  God  and  eternal  life.  It  was  a keen 
pleasure  over  against  these  empty  splendors 
to  see,  as  it  happened  I was  able  to  see,  the 
results  of  half  a century  and  more  of  Baptist 
missions  in  Rangoon.  The  Karens,  once  de- 
spised by  the  Burmans,  are  a hill  tribe  ruder 
than  their  neighbors  of  the  plains.  These 
have  been  taken  by  the  Baptist  apostles  and 
their  successors  and  lifted  up  to  the  stature  of 
manhood.  I was  present  first  at  the  graduat- 
ing exercises  of  the  women’s  school  for  Bible 
readers,  and  heard  them  singing  English 
anthems  and  reading  Karen  essays  on  Scrip- 
tural topics  ; then  at  the  commencement  ex- 
ercises of  the  Theological  Seminary  at  In- 
sein  I heard  the  orations  of  the  first  twelve 
of  a class  of  thirty-five  Karen  graduates.  One 
of  them  had  for  his  theme,  “ Come  over  into 
Macedonia  and  help  us”;  and  as  he  spoke  with 
fervor  to  his  class-mates  on  this  well-worn 
theme,  one  of  the  missionaries  sitting  by  me 
interpreted  to  me  how  he  was  pleading  with 
his  brethren  to  go  into  the  outlying  regions 
with  the  Gospel — a true  foreign  missionary 
appeal.  Nearly  50,000  Karen  converts,  with 
a native  ministry,  trained  thoroughly,  is  a 
glorious  record. 

It  was  instructive  to  hear  from  the  lips  of 
Dr.  Smith,  the  president,  and  his  colleagues, 
reminiscences  of  Bible  translation  by  the 
earliest  pioneers,  and  even  more  quickening 
to  sit  in  a classroom  where  English  was  used 
(in  the  high  school).  Close  exegetical  study 


was  there  given  to  a chapter  in  Isaiah,  each 
lad  reading  a written  analysis  of  it.  This  was 
part  of  a graded  course  of  Bible  study  occu- 
pying the  first  part  of  every  school  day  in  a 
school  which  numbered  in  all  1,500  pupils. 

The  American  Baptist  Mission  Press  in 
Rangoon  is  a power  for  righteousness  and 
enlightenment  worth  far  more  than  all  the 
pagodas  in  Burma.  It  is  hardly  necessary  for 
me  to  point  the  moral  for  the  Bible  Society. 
Every  detail  of  the  business  of  Bible  trans- 
lation, printing,  publishing,  and  circulating, 
needs  the  most  careful  and  thorough  atten- 
tion in  all  eastern  lands  if  the  missionary 
propaganda  is  to  be  permanently  successful, 
nor  must  Christians  fall  behind  Buddhists, 
who  lavishly  furnish  gold  for  their  shrines. 

From  Rangoon,  after  three  crowded  days, 
we  took  ship  for  Penang,  a charming  seaside 
city,  and  there  disembarking,  caught  a still 
briefer  glimpse  of  Malaysia,  but  one  truly 
astonishing.  The  wonders  of  the  jungle,  the 
thrill  of  strange  adventure  on  the  pirate  coast 
of  Malacca,  are  things  familiar  enough  in 
books  read  perhaps  in  boyhood,  but  who 
would  have  thought  it  possible  to  be  whirled 
along  in  the  luxury  of  a well-appointed  rail- 
way (wiring  in  advance  for  “tiffin”)  nearly 
through  the  length  of  the  Malay  peninsula, 
often  in  dense  jungle,  which  is  even  yet  the 
haunt  of  troops  of  wild  elephants,  tigers,  and 
pythons,  and  where  thirty  years  ago  savage 
beasts  and  still  more  savage  men  roamed 
supreme. 

From  Penang  to  Kuala  Lumpur  in  one  day, 
and  then,  after  a night’s  rest,  to  old  “ Malacca 
Town”  which  we  reached  at  noon;  and  then  at 
night  to  be  rowed  in  a Malay pralvn  out  over  the 
shallow  sea  to  intercept  and  board  the  steam- 
ship “ Malacca,”  a little  coaster  which  took  us, 
along  with  a load  of  Chinese,  to  Singapore — 
all  this  made  a journey  so  unlike  the  ordinary 
routine  of  travel  that  we  seemed  to  be  living 
in  dreamland.  Yet  it  was  not  dreamland  but 
Malaysia,  thronging  with  not  only  Malay  but 
especially  with  Chinese  life.  We  felt  our- 
selves already  under  the  spell  of  the  Middle 
Kingdom,  for  the  streets  of  Penang,  Malacca, 
and,  much  more,  of  Singapore,  echoed  with 
the  tread  of  Chinese  invaders.  The  “yellow 
peril  ” is  upon  Singapore.  Of  its  220,000  in- 
habitants 120,000  are  Chinese  ; yet,  strange  to 
tell,  these  Chinese  speak  Malay  rather  than 
their  own  tongue.  Indeed,  the  “ Babas,”  that 
is,  those  born  in  the  Straits  Settlements,  con- 
sider Malay  their  mother  tongue — not  the 
“high  ” Malay,  but  the  low  or  “ Baba  ” Malay. 

At  Kuala  Lumpur  we  saw  Bishop  Oldham, 
of  the  American  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
and  some  of  the  group  of  devoted  ministers 
who  were  soon  to  meet  in  Conference. 


Siam — En  Route  to  China 


17 


V.  Siam— En  Route  to  China 


WE  have  just  left  the  harbor  of  Koh- 
Sichang,  the  largest  of  a little  group 
of  islands  lying  fifty  miles  south  of  Bangkok, 
where  we  took  on  cargo.  It  was  our  last 
glimpse  of  Siam  and  at  the  same  time  a kind 
of  prelude  to  China.  The  harbor  held  a little 
squadron  of  ships,  several  of  them  Nordeutsch 
liners,  including  our  own,  the  Phrancuig,  of 
1,800  tons.  Such  vessels  cannot  take  on  their 
cargo  in  the  river  at  Bangkok,  for  the  bar  at 
its  mouth,  thirty  miles  below,  would  be  im- 
passable for  them  ; so  they  must  come  to  this 
roadstead,  followed  by  “lighters.”  They  are 
officered  by  Germans,  but  with  Chinese  crews, 
as  are  the 
lighters  also, 
though  some 
of  them  are 
junk-rigged 
and  add  pic- 
turesqueness 
to  the  harbor. 

It  is  an  odd 
sight  to  see 
the  Chinese 
coolie,  almost 
naked  and 
dripping  with 
perspiration, 
carrying  a 
200-pound 
rice  bag,  flut- 
t e r i n g his 
pretty  fan 
meanwhile 
with  the  grace 
of  a Pompa- 
dour.  The 
Bangkok 
n e w s p a p ers 
advertise  the  fleet  of  twenty-eight  steamers 
of  this  line  between  Bangkok  and  Singapore, 
or  Bangkok,  Hongkong,  and  Swatow,  and 
almost  every  steamer  going  out  from  Bangkok 
flies  the  German  flag.  Even  a two  weeks’ 
trip  in  Siam  reveals  the  degree  in  which 
European  nations  are  contending  for  the  trade 
of  the  East. 

It  emphasizes  the  inevitable  delay  of  travel 
in  these  parts  that  we  were  obliged  to  spend 
three  or  four  days  in  the  little  port  of  Koh- 
Sichang.  At  the  last  moment  our  ever-faith- 
ful  Mr.  Carrington,  long  known  to  the  readers 
of  the  Record,  as  the  Agent  of  the  Society 
for  Siam,  was  persuaded  to  accompany  us 
and  stay  part  of  the  time.  Thereby  we  had 
the  unique  and  happy  experience  of  helping 


him  to  preach  the  gospel  where  probably  it 
never  had  been  preached  before. 

Koh-Siehang 

Koh-Sichang  has  two  fishing  villages  lying 
quite  near  together.  In  the  midst  of  the 
larger  of  these  we  took  our  places  one  morn- 
ing and  began  to  sing  “Take  the  name  of 
Jesus  with  you,”  and  other  familiar  hymns. 
In  a few  moments  a small  audience,  first 
of  children  and  then  of  their  elders,  came 
flocking  out  of  their  huts  and  shops — fifty 
or  a hundred  in  all.  There  were  four  of  our 
party  besides  Mr.  Carrington  and  the  good 

captain  of  the 
P h ran  a ng . 
Mr.  Carring- 
ton  stood 
forth  and 
preached  to 
the  villagers 
of  God  as  the 
Creator  of  the 
world  and  of 
all  mankind, 
the  children 
of  one  family, 
and  as  their 
Redeemer  in 
Jesus  Christ. 
They  seemed 
to  give  good 
heed.  One 
old  man,  evi- 
dently the 
head  man  or 
elder  of  the 
village,  sat 
cross-legged 
on  the  ground 
with  serious  mien,  as  if  listening  to  every 
word. 

At  Mr.  Carrington’s  request,  I spoke  briefly 
in  English,  while  he  interpreted,  telling  them 
of  God’s  book  and  our  reason  for  being  there, 
promising  to  try  to  send  them  some  copies 
in  the  near  future.  After  some  further  words 
and  more  singing  the  little  service  closed  with 
prayer,  and  we  went  on  to  the  next  village, 
followed  by  some  bright-faced  children  who 
seemed  unwilling  to  part  with  us,  and  brought 
us  little  gifts  of  flowers.  A few  minutes 
brought  us  to  the  next  village,  but  it  was  im- 
possible to  repeat  our  efforts  there,  as  it  was 
mainly  a Chinese  village. 

It  may  be  added  that  we  found  one  bright- 
looking  young  man,  a Burman,  who  declared 


WAT  SUTAT,  BANGKOK 


18 


Around  the  World  for  the  American  Bible  Society 


“ I am  a Christian,”  and  two  young  women, 
children  of  a Portuguese  trader,  who  were 
Roman  Catholics,  but  without  priest  or  church. 
So,  doubtless,  God  has  his  hidden  ones. 
What  we  saw  here  may  be  seen  all  over 
Siam — “ multitudes  scattered  abroad  as  sheep 
having  no  shepherd.”  Who  will  minister  to 
them  ? 

High  up  on  the  hill  overlooking  Koh-Si- 
■chang  we  had  seen  from  the  ship  the  now 
familiar  outline  of  a little  pagoda,  which  we 
subsequently  visited.  It  is  one  of  a group 
of  buildings  erected  by  the  King  of  Siam  as 
a summer  palace,  and  almost  the  only  one 
now  left  standing.  His  Majesty,  it  is  said, 
spent  millions  of  ticals  upon  them,  laying 
out  Italian  gardens,  with  huge  pools  of  water 
in  cavernous  reservoirs  hewn  in  the  solid 
rock,  terrace  after  terrace  exquisitely  adorned, 
connected  with  flights  of  magnificent  stone 
steps,  which  still  lead  the  traveler  through 
the  jungle  thickets  which  now  have  rapidly 
overgrown  the  planned  beauty  of  this  royal 
pleasure-palace — such  a garden  as  Solomon 
might  have  loved.  It  was  occupied,  and,  we 
were  told,  wrecked,  by  the  French  invaders 
of  1893,  and  the  king  has  never  returned  to 
it,  though  other  reasons  are  assigned  by 
some  for  the  fact.  The  climax  of  misfortune 
seemed  reached  when  a Norwegian  sea  cap- 
tain stole  the  Buddha  from  the  shrine  on  top 
of  the  hill,  and  though  he  was  compelled  to 
give  up  his  plunder,  the  image  has  vanished 
from  its  throne  under  the  dome  of  the  pretty 
pagoda. 

As  we  made  our  way  through  the  thickets 
in  the  dusk  of  the  evening,  it  was  impossible 
not  to  feel  the  pathos  of  the  situation.  All 
this  is  perhaps  worth  noting,  because  Koh- 
Sichang  is  not  a bad  epitome  of  Siam  itself — 
beautiful,  full  of  a quaint,  archaic  charm,  over- 
shadowed by  the  huge  bulk  of  more  powerful 
eastern  neighbors,  menaced  by  the  aggression 
of  European  states,  yet 
with  quiet  dignity  main- 
taining her  own  individu- 
ality, making  the  best  of  a 
difficult  situation;  and,  in 
spite  of  obstacles  which 
even  the  best  diplomacy 
finds  it  hard  to  overcome, 
gaining  in  prestige  and  in 
respect  the  attention  of  the 
civilized  world  more  and 
more  every  year. 

Siam,  and  Bangkok  es- 
pecially, is  made  by  its 
river — Menam,  foreigners 
call  it,  which  simply  means 
“ the  river.”  Great  ocean 
vessels,  though  they  can- 


not cross  its  bar  when  fully  laden,  find  in 
some  places  ninety  feet  of  water  in  the  heart 
of  the  city.  No  grand  canal  in  Venice  or 
elsewhere  is  like  the  Bangkok  Menam.  It 
is  a curious  experience  to  step  out  of  a boat, 
make  your  way  through  a tropical  growth 
into  the  house  of  a great  banking  institution 
having  many  branches  through  the  East,  and 
have  a clerk  cash  your  draft  while  the  birds 
fly  in  at  the  windows  and  hop  about  his  ears. 
The  city,  with  a population  exceeding  one- 
half  a million,  covers  an  area  of  fifty  or  sixty 
square  miles,  lying  not  only  on  both  sides  of 
the  river,  but  along  the  banks  of  many  klongs, 
or  canals,  so  that  one  can  ride  through  miles 
of  watery  streets  and  a thick  population, 
whose  front  doors  and  doorsteps  open  into 
the  water,  and  can  see  whole  families,  old 
and  young,  men  and  women,  and  even  with 
babies,  plunging  and  splashing  on  every 
hand.  He  may  stop  if  he  will  and  buy  from 
the  shops  whose  fronts  are  open  river- 
ward,  or  he  may  disembark  and  visit  a temple, 
or  factory,  or  palace,  almost  any  kind  of 
building,  modern  or  antique.  On  other  streets, 
more  like  our  own,  lined  with  the  usual  ori- 
ental structures,  street-car  lines  run,  appar- 
ently, with  as  reckless  unconcern  as  New 
York  street-cars. 

We  visited  the  royal  palace,  a rare  combi- 
nation of  Italian  and  Siamese  architecture, 
which,  however,  strangers  usually  must  see, 
as  we  did,  only  from  the  outside.  We  looked 
at  the  Emerald  Idol  in  its  beautiful  shrine, 
the  sleeping  Buddha,  150  feet  long  as  he  lies 
in  his  temple  bed,  and  the  white  elephants, 
which  are  not  as  white  as  they  are  painted. 

A day  was  given  to  Ayuthia,  once  the  capi- 
tal of  Siam  until  the  Burmese  armies  attacked 
it  and  the  Siamese  retreated  to  the  present 
seat  of  government — Ayuthia,  a city,  even 
more  than  Bangkok,  built  on  the  banks  of 
river  and  canal,  where  ruins  of  temples,  once 


Siam — En  Route  to  China 


19 


ENTRANCE  AT  WAT  POH,  BANGKOK 


immense  and  splendid,  now  are  rapidly  being 
buried  in  jungle. 

We  crowded  all  that  could  be  crowded  into 
an  all  too  brief  two  weeks,  including  four  days 
at  Koh-Sichang.  To  us  the  chiefest,  and  the 
best,  of  course,  was  the  American  Presby- 
terian Mission,  of  which  our  Mr.  Carrington 
was  for  years,  prior  to  his  appointment  as  our 
own  agent,  an  honored  member.  His  work 
still  interlaces  so  closely  with  that  of  the  mis- 
sion that  it  is  easiest  to  speak  of  them  to- 
gether. A morning  was  spent  with  him  and 
his  colporteurs,  a fine  band  of  native  Chris- 
tians, tried  by  years  of  experience  in  the  work, 
who  have  this  year  sold  between  17,000  and 
18,000  copies  of  the  Scriptures  or  some  of  its 
parts.  It  is  no  reflection  on  them  to  add  that 
Mr.  Carrington,  himself,  sold  nearly  19,000 
copies,  and  that  the  total  circulation,  greater 
than  that  of  any  previous  year,  is  largely  due 
to  his  unwearied  faithfulness.  He  would  not, 
perhaps,  permit  me  to  make  this  statement  if 
he  knew  it,  but  it  is  simple  justice  to  him  to 
do  so.  His  modesty  is  such  that  his  own 
pen  would  never  describe  all  his  extensive 
journeyings,  his  self-denying  labors,  his  con- 
secration to  the  cause ; so  it  is  a joy  to 
me  to  make  public  this  tribute  to  his  devo- 
tion. 

From  one  end  of  the  country  to  the  other 
he  is  known  by  all  classes,  Christian  and  Bud- 
dhist, as  a veritable  apostle  to  the  Siamese, 
not  only  selling  books,  but  ministering  to 
them  in  a score  of  ways — at  times  even  to 
their  physical  and  always  to  their  spiritual 
needs,  with  a self-effacing  zeal  which  is  be- 
yond praise.  He  sells  Bibles  in  temples, 
railway  cars,  gambling  houses,  and  country 
villages  alike.  He  has  been  associated  in 
evangelizing  tours  with  Dr.  Eugene  P.  Dun- 
lap, the  evangelist  par  excellence  of  the  mis- 


sion, and  these  two  have 
made  many  a long  journey 
to  “the  Bengal  side,”  suf- 
fering privations  that  they 
are  slow  to  tell  about,  but 
which  ought  not  to  pass 
unnoticed  by  the  church  at 
home.  In  addition  to  this, 
Mr.  Carrington  has  the  care 
of  the  stock  of  books,  all 
the  business  details  of 
handling  them,  keeping  the 
accounts  of  the  Agency, 
and  laboring  at  the  trans- 
lation and  revision  of  the 
Scriptures  into  Siamese,  in 
which  he  is  an  acknowl- 
edged master. 

But  the  chief  thing,  ever 
pressing  upon  him,  and 
which  came  through  him  to  press  more  heav- 
ily upon  me,  is  the  burden  of  “the  regions 
beyond.”  It  was  impossible  to  go  to  the 
Laos  country,  where  the  Presbyterians  have, 
as  is  well  known,  quite  as  important  a mis- 
sion, which  it  takes  six  weeks  to  reach  from 
Bangkok,  and  this  Mr.  Carrington  finds  im- 
possible to  visit,  and  it  should  be  visited,  of 
course.  Then,  too,  the  Siamese  provinces  in 
the  Malay  peninsula  demand  equal  or  greater 
attention,  for  there  are  almost  no  mission- 
aries ; and  beyond  the  eastern  border  of  Siam 
lies  Cambodia,  and  beyond  that  again  other 
unevangelized  states. 

Under  Mr.  Carrington’s  wise  and  gentle 
handling,  Buddhist  priests  in  their  temples 
made  translations  for  him  of  two  books  of  the 
New  Testament  into  Cambodian,  writing  them 
out  in  beautiful  script  with  their  pens.  These, 
through  a photographic  process,  the  Society 
published,  and  of  course  he  now  desires  to  cir- 
culate them,  if  possible  in  Cambodia  itself.  So 
it  will  be  seen  that  our  work  in  Siam  principally 
needs  enlargement — a “forward  movement.” 
To  say  this,  indeed,  is  but  to  repeat  what  is  true 
of  most  missions  everywhere.  The  nations 
are  ready — the  church  at  home  is  unready. 

Oh,  that  every  Presbyterian  congregation 
at  home  could  see  Siam  as  I saw  it — even  for 
two  weeks.  Their  firing  line  is  a gallant 
band,  men  and  women  bearing  in  a peculiar 
sense  the  burden  and  heat  of  the  day — the 
dispiriting  burden  of  almost  ceaseless  tropi- 
cal sultriness.  They  have  their  fine  mission 
press,  under  the  Rev.  J.  B.  Dunlap ; an 
admirable  high  school  for  boys,  under  the 
Rev.  W.  G.  McLure ; the  Wang  Lang  high 
school  for  girls,  under  Miss  Edna  S.  Cole  ; a 
day  school  at  Suwray,  and  three  organized 
churches,  reaching  both  Siamese  and  Chinese. 
In  prospect,  the  Boon  Itt  Memorial — not  to  go 


20 


Around  the  World  for  the  American  Bible  Society 


outside  of  Bangkok,  to  Petchaburee,  Pitsa- 
nooloke,  and  elsewhere.  But  fine  as  all  this 
is,  what  are  these  among  so  many — the  seven 
millions  of  Siam  ? Those  of  us  who  have  seen 
the  dark  shadow  in  which  they  live  must  re- 
echo the  Macedonian  cry — which  the  mission- 
aries themselves  raise — " Come  over  and  help 
us.” 

It  was  given  me  to  lead  the  missionary 
prayer  meeting,  attended  not  only  by  Presby- 
terians, but  by  such  men  as  the  veteran  Bap- 
tist scholar,  Dr.  Samuel  Smith,  who  at  eighty- 
six  is  bringing  out  his  Siamese  dictionary ; 
and  Canon  Greenstock,  another  veteran  of  the 
Church  of  England,  and  to  preach  three 
times  on  Sunday.  The  first  impression  needed 
no  correction — Bible  work  and  mission  work 
in  general  imperatively  needs  immediate  in- 
crease of  men  and  means.  This  is  the  more 
clamant  because  of  the  extraordinary  recep- 
tivity of  the  Siamese  in  their  attitude  toward 
Christianity. 

Through  the  courteous  kindness  of  the 
American  Minister  at  Bangkok,  Mr.  Hamilton 
King,  I was  given,  along  with  him,  audience 
with  the  four  chief  princes  of  the  kingdom : 
His  Royal  Highness  Prince  Damrong,  Minis- 
ter of  the  Interior,  who  is  widely  recognized 
as  one  of  the  most  eminent  Siamese  states- 
men; His  Royal  Highness  the  High  Priest, 
Prince  Vajiranana,  the  head  of  Buddhism  in 
Siam ; the  Queen’s  brother,  His  Royal  High- 
ness the  Crown  Prince  of  Siam;  and  the  Min- 
ister of  Foreign  Affairs,  His  Royal  Highness 
Prince  Devawongse.  It  would  take  a separate 
letter  to  describe  in  detail  the  minutiae  of  these 
interviews.  Though  they  were  none  of  them 
very  long,  there  were  yet  many  circumstances 
of  interest  connected  with  them,  but  for  my 
present  purpose  it  will  be  sufficient  to  say 
that  Prince  Damrong  expressed  himself  in 
terms  of  unqualified  approval  of  Christian 
missions  in  general,  and  of  our  own  work 
and  its  representative,  Mr.  Carrington,  in 
particular. 

“ Say  to  your  friends,”  he  remarked,  “that 
the  missionaries  are  as  useful  as  ever,”  and 
followed  this  with  expressions  which  showed 
how  very  useful  this  was.  “ Such  men  as  Mr. 
Carrington,”  he  added,  “will  always  be  wel- 
come in  Siam.” 

He  touched  on  the  need  of  missionaries 
being  men  of  discretion  and  without  fanati- 
cism, but  spoke  as  though  it  were  a matter  of 
course  that  Siam  would  welcome  them.  It 
was  interesting  to  hear  him  speak  also  of  the 
efforts  of  the  Siamese  Government  to  sup- 
press gambling ; and  when  I told  him  of  the 
sympathy  and  approval  which  were  felt  among 
Americans  at  these  efforts,  he  seemed  pleased 
and  responded  warmly,  and  presently  asked 


what  he  could  do  to  make  my  stay  in  Siam 
pleasant  and  profitable  to  me. 

An  alert,  resolute,  thoughtful  man  of  affairs 
this  notable  minister  appeared  devoid  of  any 
hauteur , but  with  entire  grace  and  dignity, 
suggesting  by  his  demeanor  a master  in  the 
serious  business  which  he  has  in  hand. 

We  found  Prince  Devawongse  overburdened 
with  affairs  of  state,  but  kindly  eager  to  ac- 
commodate us  by  an  interview.  He,  too, 
touched  on  the  welcoming  attitude  of  Siam  to 
Christian  missionaries.  “We  have  no  Boxers 
in  Siam,”  he  said  with  a twinkling  smile,  and 
this,  with  some  kindly  expressions,  made  the 
gist  of  his  remarks. 

His  Royal  Highness  the  Crown  Prince 
had  all  the  dignity  becoming  his  high  rank, 
but  was  simple,  direct,  and  wholly  kindly 
and  sympathetic  in  all  that  he  said,  especially 
when  his  recent  visit  to  New  York  was  re- 
ferred to. 

Buddhism  is  a tolerant  religion.  Mr.  Car- 
rington, as  noted  above,  is  able  often  to  dis- 
tribute his  books  in  the  precincts  of  Buddhist 
temples  and  find  ready  purchasers.  We  were 
not,  therefore,  unprepared  for  the  kindly 


TYPES  OF  PEOPLE,  BANGKOK 


greeting  and  welcoming  hand-shake  of  His 
Royal  Highness  Prince  Vajiranana.  Before 
him  the  highest  princes  of  the  realm  are 
wont  to  prostrate  themselves  in  humblest 
abasement ; yet  if  ever  dignified  simplicity 
found  outward  embodiment,  it  was  here.  A 


Siam — En  Route  to  China 


21 


slight,  delicate,  scholar-like  man,  bare-footed 
and  with  close-shaven  head,  clothed  only  in 
the  famous  yellow 
robe — and  that  not 
of  silk,  but  the  com- 
mon stuff  worn  by 
every  priest — he  sat 
in  his  simply  fur- 
nished reception- 
room,  accompanied 
by  his  abbot,  dressed 
in  similar  garb,  and 
chatted  familiarly,  at 
times  with  a little 
touch  of  humor, 
about  Buddhism,  re- 
ligious literature — 
more  especially 
English  books  on 
such  subjects.  He  is 
a Pali  scholar  of  emi- 
nence, having  edited, 
if  I am  rightly  in- 
formed, some  edi- 
tions for  the  libraries 
of  American  univer- 
sities. I told  him  of 
the  studies  in  com- 
parative religion 
which,  as  a student 
in  the  Theological 
Seminary,  had  been 
required  of  me,  and 
he  at  once  kindled 
into  interest  and  told 
me  of  a volume  in 
the  “ Encyclopaedia 
of  Religions”  in  English  in  which  he  took 
great  interest,  and  expressed  his  great  will- 
ingness to  receive  from  me  other  similar  work. 
“We  read  the  Bible  and  the  Koran,”  he  said, 
and  then  assured  me  of  the  kindly  regard  in 
which  the  Christian  teachers  were  held. 

The  time  soon  came  for  our  departure,  for 


we  knew  from  his  note  (written  with  his  own 
hand)  our  host  had  put  himself  out  some- 
what to  give  us  au- 
dience ; but  after  we 
had  parted  with  re- 
peated cordial  hand- 
shakings, the  prinee- 
priest  followed  us 
to  the  porch  outside, 
and,  when  we  de- 
scended the  flight 
of  steps,  repeated  his 
kindly  expressions, 
leaning  a little  over 
the  railing  and  shak- 
ing his  hand  to  em- 
phasize his  last  sig- 
nificant words,  “We 
■ are  not  jealous.” 

I Such  is  the  open- 
I ing  for  the  gospel  and 
the  Bible  in  Siam,  as 
I saw  it.  There  is  a 
right  and  a wrong 
way  of  entering  this 
open  door.  It  is  not 
needful  for  the  am- 
bassadors of  Christ 
to  conceal  or  abate 
His  claim  to  be  the 
one  and  only  Master 
of  all  men  and  all 
nations.  Let  us  pay 
no  empty  compli- 
ments and  offer  no 
mock  homage  to  any 
other  king.  But  may 
grace  of  speech  and  wisdom  of  demeanor  be 
given  to  every  missionary  of  every  church, 
not  to  repulse  nor  undervalue  the  gentleness 
and  kindly  sympathy  shown  in  so  extraordi- 
nary a degree  by  the  Royal  High  Priest  of 
Siamese  Buddhism.  May  he  find  our  Royal 
High  Priest  and  learn  His  grace  ! 


HIS  ROYAL  HIGHNESS,  MAHA  VAJIRAVUDH, 
Crown  Prince  of  Siam 


MR.  CARRINGTON  TRAVELING  IN  SIAM 


“seven  young  girls  of  canton’’ 


VI.  China — First  Impressions 


HONGKONG  is  not  China,  but  it  is  Chi- 
nese enough  for  a beginner — a good 
stepping-stone  to  Cathay.  It  is  related  to 
“China  proper”  somewhat  as  “pidgin”  English 
is  to  both  Chinese  and  English.  This  amus- 
ing patois  is  one  of  the  first  impressions.  It  is 
English  in  vocabulary  and  Chinese  in  syntax 
and  accent.  A thousand  years  ago  Anglo- 
Saxon  and  Norman  French  were  jumbled  to- 
gether roughly  in  a similar  fashion,  and  out 
of  it  came  the  speech  of  Shakespeare  and  the 
English  Bible.  In  the  making  of  language 
necessity  knows  no  law,  and  no  one  can  pre- 
dict what  may  come  out  of  “pidgin”  Eng- 
lish, so  largely  used  in  the  ports — another 
Bible  language  perhaps.  Who  can  say  ? 

The  streets  of  Hongkong  are  very  British 
looking,  and  the  buildings  also.  The  King 
Edward  Hotel  seems  quite  in  place.  From 
the  ship  the  streets  look  like  great,  massive 
honeycombs,  sparkling  at  night  with  a thou- 
sand glowing  eyes;  and  by  daylight  they  are 
seen  to  overflow  the  narrow  levels  by  the 
water  front,  climbing  up  the  steep  sides  of 
the  rough  mountain  range  which  girdles  the 
harbor,  whose  glorious  beauty  recalls  the 
finest  Scottish  coast  scenery.  Its  blue-green 
waters  bear  on  their  bosom  the  ships  of  many 
nations — warships,  ocean  liners,  and  merchant- 
men, but  the  Dragon  flag  flies  with  the  others, 
and  the  fleet  of  junks  and  sampans  of  many  a 
curious  shape  and  sail  is  all  Chinese. 

The  summit  of  the  Peak,  a mountain  shoot- 
ing up  1,800  feet  out  of  and  above  the  city, 
has  English  buildings  to  the  very  top,  but 
Chinese  sightseers  climbed  up,  or  were  car- 
ried up  with  us,  and  in  the  English  streets 
far  below  the  throngs  were  Chinese.  The 
hotel  “boys,”  the  coolies,  the  ’ricksha  men, 
and  in  many  streets  the  shopmen  also,  dispel 
any  illusion  that  Hongkong  is  purely  British. 
Across  the  bay  at  Kowloon,  where  some  of 
the  ocean  liners  lie,  and  for  thirty  miles  far- 


ther inland,  the  British  have  recently  “ac- 
quired,” by  purchase,  a new  patch  of  China. 
That  was  the  second  impression — the  desper- 
ate struggle  of  western  nations  to  pre-empt 
Chinese  territory. 

As  I write  now,  two  hundred  miles  up  the 
Yang-tse  River,  a German  warship  lies  a few 
yards  off  the  shore,  and  this  is  quite  a fa- 
miliar sight. 

How  can  we  pre-empt  this  land  for  the 
King  of  Nations  ? That  is  the  next  and 
most  burning  impression.  How  is  the  Bible 
to  be  put  in  the  place  of  the  Confucian  clas- 
sics ? God  can,  no  doubt,  use  the  commer- 
cial ambitions,  the  political  diplomacy,  even 
the  wicked  wars  of  rival  nations,  to  bring  this 
to  pass,  but  all  the  victory  must,  after  all,  be 
won  by  spiritual  weapons.  Surely  the  Bible 
Societies  have  a great  enough  task — if  they 
had  not  other  than  this — to  help  give  the 
Chinese  Bible  to  the  Chinese  churches  as 
speedily,  as  abundantly,  and  in  as  perfect  a 
form  as  possible. 

We  found  our  British  and  Foreign  friends 
well  established  in  Hongkong  and  busily  at 
work ; and  at  Canton,  in  the  Kuang  Tung 
Province,  eighty  miles  up  the  Pearl  River, 
the  British  and  American  Societies  are  work- 
ing hand  in  hand,  thoroughly  auxiliary  to  each 
other.  The  generous  gift  of  Dr.  C.  C.  Sel- 
den,  an  American  Christian  physician,  of  two 
large,  well-situated  building  lots,  to  the  two 
Societies,  has  enabled  the  British  Society  to 
at  once  erect  a fine  residence  and  office  for 
their  representative,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Burkwall  ; 
and  our  own  representative,  the  Rev.  Alfred 
Alf,  had  just  made  the  contract  for  some 
necessary  filling  in  of  our  lot. 

Canton  is  thoroughly  and  typically  Chinese, 
a labarinthine  city  of  crooked  ways,  so  intri- 
cate and  tangled  that  a guide  was  indispensable 
at  first  and  desirable  always.  One  must  learn 
his  way  by  something  that  corresponds  to 


China — First  Impressions 


23 


HONGKONG  FROM  THE  HARBOR 

woodcraft  in  a forest.  There  is,  to  be  sure, 
an  island  of  refuge,  Shameen,  where  the 
foreign  consulates,  the  banks,  the  one  hotel, 
and  the  foreign  residences  are  situated;  and 
on  the  edges  and  suburbs  of  the  native 
city  there  are  some  more  open  places  and 
passable  roadways.  But  usually  the  street 
called  “straight”  does  not  run.  There 
is  no  wheeled  vehicle— not  a ’ricksha,  scarcely 
a horse— in  the  city.  One  must  either  foot 
it  or  else  be  carried  in  a chair  strung  on 
poles  ten  or  fifteen  feet  long.  Our  party 
started  out  for  the  first  day  (seven  of  us 
in  all)  with  twenty-one  bearers  and  one 
extra,  a procession  of  nearly  thirty.  For 
myself,  I must  confess  to  a subconscious 
feeling  of  being  at  my  own  funeral,  though 
very  much  alive  to  the  thousand  sights  and 
sounds— and  smells— that  astonish  and  be- 
wilder, and  all  but  overpower  the  novice 
in  the  school  of  Chinese  city  life.  The 
simple  difficulty  of  getting  about  is  one  of 
the  minor  difficulties  of  missionary  labor, 
and  it  is  not  a negligible 
difficulty,  though  it  must 
be  tried  to  be  realized. 

But  along  these  tortuous 
alleyways,  from  which 
in  my  swinging  seat  I 
could  o'f  t e n touch  the 
houses  on  either  side, 
and  where  the  passage 
of  chairs  usually  needed 
caution  there  was  every 
evidence  of  extraordin- 
ary thrift,  skill,  and  in- 
dustry in  every  handi- 
craft of  finer  or  coarser 
order.  Business  enter- 
prise and  success  were 
obvious. 

Canton  is  an  immense, 


rich,  prosperous  hive  of 
labor  for  a million  people. 
The  river  front  is  an  as- 
tonishing spectacle,  with 
it  myriad  fleet  of  boats 
and  ships  of  every  shape, 
and  size,  and  degree. 
Seven  or  eight  hundred  of 
the  smaller  river  steam- 
craft  are  owned  and  run  by 
the  Chinese  themselves. 
One  of  the  surprises  was 
to  see  the  number  of  sam- 
pans owned,  “manned,” 
and  run  by  women  and 
young  girls.  Women  are 
not  foot-bound  there,  at 
least.  Often  with  a baby 
strapped  to  their  backs, 
or  playing  at  their  feet,  or  clutching  at  their 
mother’s  pantalooned  leg,  these  Cantonese 
naiads  handle  their  heavy  oars,  standing  up 
to  drive  them  with  mighty  strokes  through 
the  water,  making  difficult  landings  with  huge 
bamboo  boathooks,  and  all  with  an  athletic 
grace  and  skill  worthy  of  Hiawatha  in  his 
birch-bark  canoe. 

We  visited  the  missions  as  far  as  possible, 
especially  the  Presbyterian  Mission,  which 
touches  hands  now  (it  is  a sign  of  the 
times)  with  the  New  Zealand  Presbyterian 
Mission  recently  established  at  Canton,  the 
Hospital,  the  Medical  School,  the  College  and 
Theological  School,  the  School  for  the  Blind, 
the  only  asylum  for  the  insane  in  China  (with 
accommodations  for  fifty  or  seventy-five  pa- 
tients), and  one  of  the  Chinese  churches  on 
Sunday — all  of  which  I was  able  to  crowd 
into  my  few  days ; nor  must  I forget  the 
Canton  Christian  College,  the  Women’s  Hos- 
pital and  Medical  School,  where  already 
young  Chinese  medical  doctoresses  are  suc- 


CANAL  SCENE,  SHAMEEN,  CANTON 


24 


Around  the  World  for  the  American  Bible  Society 


cessfully  performing  major  operations.  It 
was  my  privilege  to  preach  to  the  missionary 
body  on  Sunday  evening  and  to  seek  to  im- 
press upon  them  the  duty  of  caring  for  their 
own  bodies  as  well  as  for  the  souls  and  bodies 
of  these  perishing  millions.  Mr.  Alf,  our  in- 
defatigable host  and  helper,  with  his  wife, 
provided  an  entertainment  for  them  at  his 
own  house  to  meet  me.  He  also  had  the  col- 
porteurs come  for  conference — a noble  band 
of  Christian  workers. 

The  experience  which  most  of  all  appealed 
to  me  as  a “ Bibleman  ” was  a colporting  trip 
to  the  country.  The  Swedish- American  Mis- 
sion maintains  on  the  river  a steamboat, 
owned,  manned,  and  run  by  missionaries  and 
their  converts,  with  which  they  aim  to  reach 
the  populations  contiguous  to  the  river  for 
miles  around  the  city.  Miss  Eriksen,  of  the 
mission,  was  our  kindly  hostess  on  the  boat. 
We  ran  for  an  hour  and  then  landed  at  a typi- 
cal Chinese  village.  Mr.  Alf  and  a couple  of 
his  colporteurs,  armed  with  “ portions,”  lead- 
ing the  way,  we  started  through  the  stone- 
paved  streets  of  this  ancient  hamlet,  looking 
in  at  shop  and  smithy  and  temple  and  home, 
followed  by  an  ever-increasing  crowd  of  boys 
and  girls,  like  the  Pied  Piper  of  Hamelin 
Town.  Across  the  plowed  field  we  took  our 
way  for  miles  to  a second  village,  returning 
at  high  noon  to  rest  under  the  spreading 


boughs  of  a great  banyan  tree.  As  we  sat 
there  the  villagers  gathered  about  us — a mot- 
ley throng — and  the  ladies  of  our  party  made 
friends  readily  with  their  Chinese  sisters,  who 
eagerly  examined  them,  and  their  clothes 
especially — for  a woman’s  a woman  “for  a’ 
that.” 

The  pitying  heart  of  womankind  at  home 
could  not  but  be  deeply  stirred  to  behold  the 
pains  and  sorrows  of  that  great  shut-in  soci- 
ety— the  women  of  China.  Foot-binding  is 
bad  enough,  but  mind  and  heart-binding  are 
worse.  Yet  the  dawn  of  a better  day  is  nigh. 
Women  are  learning  to  read  and  to  think. 
The  Word  of  God  is  not  bound.  A good 
many  of  our  Bibles  are  in  the  homes,  and 
that  means  the  hearts  of  the  women.  Christ 
is  making  new  Bethanies  and  has  many 
Marys  and  Marthas  in  lonely  Chinese  vil- 
lages. One  great  thing  we  can  count  on — 
the  miracle  of  memory  wrought  in  the  Chi- 
nese mind  by  centuries  of  training.  It  is  hard 
to  believe  the  facts,  they  are  so  wonderful,  but 
they  are  facts.  I saw  one  young  girl  who  ac- 
tually learned  the  whole  Westminster  Shorter 
Catechism  in  a day  and  a half.  Better  still, 
the  seven  young  girls,  of  Canton  (whose 
photograph  is  here  reproduced),  have  each  of 
them  repeated  from  memory  the  whole  of  the 
New  Testament.  What  a sign  of  promise  for 
the  coming  China ! 


THE  SWEDISH -AMERICAN  MISSION  STEAMER 


THE  BUND,  SHANGHAI 


VII.  Shanghai  and  the  Valley  of  the  Yang-tse-Kiang 


SHANGHAI  is  the  best  gateway  into  “ new 
China.”  It  is  the  chief  city  of  the  prov- 
ince of  Kiangsu — “ the  undoubted  queen  of  the 
eighteen  provinces,”  Dr.  Martin  calls  it;  and 
another  recent  authority  declares  that  what 
is  done  in  Kiangsu  to-day  sets  the  pace  for 
all  China  to-morrow.  It  is  traversed  by  the 
Grand  Canal  (650  miles  long),  a much  more 
important  instrument  of  civilization  than  the 
great  wall,  and  by  the  mighty  Yang-tse-Kiang, 
the  Mississippi  of  China.  Although  Shang- 
hai is  better  known  to  us  at  home  than  any 
other  Chinese  city,  we  found  many  things  to 
surprise  us.  There  is,  first  of  all,  here  a 
Chinese  city  distinct  from  the  foreign  city. 
Its  ancient  walls  and  gates  recall  Shakes- 
pere’s  phrase,  “ a worm-eaten  hold  of  ragged 
stone,”  but  it  is  hidden  to  the  newcomer 
when  he  lands  by  the  International  Settle- 
ment, the  Shanghai  of  the  foreigner.  In  this 
settlement,  according  to  the  latest  figures,  are 
11,500  British,  Japanese,  Portuguese,  Ameri- 
cans, Frenchmen,  and  other  non-Chinese  in- 
habitants ; and  outside  a few  hundred  French 
subjects  in  a settlement  of  their  own.  Within 
this  foreign  cordon  no  Chinaman  has  a legal 
right  of  residence,  yet  nearly  half  a million 
Chinese  are  there.  This  influx  began  when 
the  Taiping  rebellion,  half  a century  ago, 
brought  swarms  of  refugees.  The  latest  au- 
thority estimates  in  all  the  Shanghais  a million 
Chinese.  It  needs  no  argument  to  show  how 
serious  a Chinese  uprising  would  be  under 
these  circumstances. 

Ocean  steamers  transfer  their  passengers 
at  Wusung,  sixteen  miles  down  the  Wusung 
River,  and  coming  in  the  North  Lloyd  steamer 
from  Hongkong,  we  were  carried  thence  by 
the  company’s  tender  up  to  the  city,  where 
we  were  instantly  surrounded  by  a multitu- 
dinous sea  of  Chinamen,  who  seemed  ready 
to  swallow  us  up,  repeating  the  impression, 
made  on  us  everywhere,  of  the  indescribable 


populousness  of  this  amazing  country.  This 
impression  never  left  me  while  I was  in  China 
— of  “ a great  multitude  that  no  man  could 
number,”  though  alas  ! far  from  being  an  elect 
host. 

The  “foreign”  city  is  beautifully  laid  out, 
in  the  general  style  of  an  American  or  Euro- 
pean town.  There  is  a Bund,”  or  street, 
facing  the  river,  with  its  brilliant  water  pano- 
rama of  ships  of  all  nations,  a public  garden, 
banks,  clubs,  hotels,  churches,  and  mercantile 
palaces.  The  Sikh  police  are  an  interesting 
souvenir  of  India  which  the  traveler  finds  in 
many  places  in  the  East.  The  city  has  its  daily 
morning  and  evening  newspapers,  especially 
the  North  China  Daily  Herald.  One  set  of 
streets  is  named  for  Chinese  cities — Nanking 
Road,  Peking  Road,  etc. — and  the  cross  streets 
for  the  provinces ; so  that  the  nomenclature 
is  a good  lesson  in  the  geography  of  all  China. 
Our  hotel  was  on  the  Bund  and  the  Nanking 
Road. 

A “ ’ricksha  ” ride  up  the  latter  is  a thing 
long  to  be  remembered.  Jehu,  driving  furi- 
ously, was  surely  the  father  of  such  as  run  in 
the  Nanking  Road.  At  breakneck  speed  they 
dash  madly  on  for  miles,  dodging  in  and  out 
among  the  intricate  masses  of  men  and  vehi- 
cles by  a dozen  hairbreadth  escapes,  only 
avoiding  collisions  by  the  magical  skill  with 
which  everybody  gets  out  of  everybody  else’s 
way.  The  road  at  first  leads  through  foreign 
buildings,  then  enters  a Chinese  section, 
where  the  shop  fronts  have  a barbaric  gor- 
geousness of  red  and  gold  and  brilliant  green, 
and  the  yellow  dragon  flag  swings  from  many 
a bamboo  pole,  until  at  last,  flying  by  the 
gay  race-course  and  into  the  famous  “ Bub- 
bling Well  Road,”  the  wondering  traveler 
is  ushered  into  a land  of  quiet  villas  and 
sweet  fields,  dressed  in  living  green  and 
yellow  rape  flowers,  and  great  open  vistas 
of  plain  and  sky  where  on  a May-day  a 


26 


Around  the  World  for  the  American  Bible  Society 


Maypole  and  some  old  English  songs  would 
seem  much  in  place. 

A glance  is  enough  to  show  why  such  a 
city  is  the  best  base-line  for  foreign  influence, 
and  why  the  headquarters  of  mission  work 
are  here.  There  are  more  than  200  mission- 
aries living  here,  representing  32  missionary 
societies.  The  Young  Men’s  Christian  Asso- 
ciation, the  Methodist  Publishing  House,  the 
Presbyterian  Mission  Press,  St.  John’s  Col- 
lege of  the  (American)  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church,  and  other  similar  institutions  are  here. 
It  is,  therefore,  quite  natural  that  the  two 
Bible  Societies,  the  British  and  American, 
should  have  their  chief  offices  here.  Their 
headquarters,  at  the  present,  are  side  by  side, 
diagonally  across  the  street  from  the  Angli- 
can Cathedral,  where,  one  Sunday,  in  company 
with  Dr.  Barton,  of  the  American  Board,  we 
heard  a fervent  and  admirable  discourse  by 
the  venerable  Bishop  Moule  on  the  Bible,  with 
some  incidental  reference  to  the  Bible  Society 
and  its  work. 

The  British  Society  is  to  move  soon  to 
larger  quarters  next  door  to  the  Presbyterian 
Mission  Press,  some  squares  away,  so  that 
we  shall  lose  our  best  neighbor.  Here,  at 
14  Kiukiang  Road,  we  found  Dr.  Hykes  and 
Dr.  Meyers  and,  at  present,  Mr.  Gammon, 
ordinarily  one  of  our  superintendents,  all 
busily  at  work,  their  headquarters  the  center 
and  rendezvous  for  many  missionaries  from 
all  parts  of  China,  especially  as  the  forces 
gathered  for  the  great  Conference.  Our  first 
business  was  to  come  to  a better  understand- 
ing of  the  plans,  ways,  and  means  by  which 
the  extensive  distribution  of  the  Scriptures  in 
the  empire  is  carried  forward,  and  by  which, 
prior  to  that,  the  books  are  produced  which 
must  be  distributed.  This  is  not  a light  un- 
dertaking, and  the  little  staff  at  the  Bible 
House  has,  each  man,  his  place  and  duty,  and 
is  systematically  occupied  with  this  great  and 
responsible  task. 

Dr.  Hykes  is  known  and  loved  all  over 
China  as  a veteran  missionary,  and  has  pecu- 
liar qualifications  for  the  work  he  now  is  vig- 
orously pushing.  He  had  arranged  his  affairs 
so  as  to  visit  as  many  of  the  five  superintend- 
ents (and  we  did  visit  three  of  them)  as  pos- 
sible in  connection  with  my  own  trip  through 
China.  We  had,  therefore,  the  great  advantage 
of  his  company,  his  knowledge  and  his  mas- 
tery of  the  language  as  we  went  from  city  to 
city  and  province  to  province.  As  a veteran 
missionary,  and  for  the  last  fourteen  j7ears 
the  responsible  head  of  the  work  of  the  So- 
ciety, he  has  a host  of  acquaintances  and  of 
warm  personal  friends.  This  was  unmistak- 
ably evident  wherever  we  went.  The  oversight 
of  the  field  through  all  its  vast  length  and 


breadth  is,  of  course,  one  of  the  most  necessary 
of  his  functions,  yet  the  right  discharge  of 
these  duties  is  not  always  easy,  considering 
the  equal  necessity  of  a close  and  careful 
superintendence  of  the  general  administration 
of  affairs  at  Shanghai.  He  is  a veritable 
episcopos  for  the  Bible  and  needs  the  gift  of 
ubiquity. 

Some  account  of  the  methods  pursued  in 
the  office  will  be  of  value  to  the  friends  of  the 
Society.  Let  me  begin  with  a single  item 
that  might  be  accounted  the  least.  Every 
business  institution  in  Shanghai,  and,  I sup- 
pose, in  China  generally,  has  what  is  called  a 
compradore,  a name  and  office  uniquely  Ori- 
ental. His  duties  are  that  of  a petty  cashier. 
The  banks  in  Shanghai  will  not  cash  checks 
for  less  than  $10.  This  necessitates  a petty 
cash  account,  which  is  in  the  hands  of  Mr. 
Siao  Lin  Sung,  an  honored  member  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  who  has  been  for  many 
years  our  compradore . He  receives  small 
sums  in  settlement  of  accounts  or  in  payment 
for  cash  purchases,  and  disburses  them  on 
compradore' s orders,  taking  vouchers  on  the 
same  and  rendering  a monthly  account.  The 
importance  of  such  an  office  being  in  good 
hands  is  obvious.  I noticed  in  the  news- 
papers the  report  of  a suit  in  court  against  a 
compradore  in  one  of  the  large  banking  estab- 
lishments for  misuse  of  funds,  who  had  evi- 
dently been  intrusted  with  the  handling  of 
very  large  sums  and  greater  responsibilities  ; 
and  this  will  suggest  the  fact  that  business 
methods  learned  in  the  West  need  a certain 
adaptation  to  Eastern  custom  wisely  made  by 
a competent  hand. 

In  the  general  accounts  in  the  office  the 
usual  method  of  double-entry  bookkeeping 
was  carefully  pursued  according  to  the  forms 
in  use  at  home.  Dr.  Meyers,  the  assistant, 
draws  nearly  all  the  checks  and  keeps  the 
money  accounts.  The  most  difficult  part  of 
the  office  work  was  the  book  account,  which 
is  kept  according  to  a very  thorough  and 
accurate  system,  so  that  at  any  time  it  is  pos- 
sible to  account  for  all  books  published  and 
circulated  by  the  Societies.  The  report  for 
the  present  year,  for  example,  will  show  that 
the  publications  for  1906  consisted  of  358,300 
volumes  in  seven  different  dialects  and  with 
two  sets  of  terms  for  God ; and,  further,  that 
the  issues  for  the  Agency,  not  to  be  con- 
founded with  the  publications,  amounted  to 
435,904  copies. 

In  the  publication  of  these  books  the  proofs 
must  be  read,  which  is  in  itself  a serious  un- 
dertaking, and  many  details  carefully  super- 
vised, so  that  apart  from  the  larger  outlook 
over  the  empire,  the  handling  of  details 
at  Shanghai  must  be  thoroughly  and  broadly 


Shanghai  and  the  Valley  of  the  Yang-tse-Kiang 


27 


intelligent.  The  agent  of  such  a society  must 
also  be,  as  our  Agent  has  been,  closely  con- 
nected with  the  work  of  perfecting  existing 
translations  of  the  Scriptures. 

The  report  for  the  present  year  will  show 
that  there  were  ninety-five  native  colporteurs 
employed  under  our  six  superintendents. 
Under  missionary  superintendents,  but  still 
under  our  pay  and  concerning  whom  we  must 
have  regular  reports,  there  were  fifty-five 
more — that  is  to  say,  the  supervision  of  this 
little  army  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  Bible  dis- 
tributers still  further  takes  the  energy  of  a 
strong  man.  It  is  not,  therefore,  possible 
for  Dr.  Hykes  to  engage,  like  Mr.  Carring- 
ton, in  Siam,  in  personal  colportage,  though 
the  will  on  his  part  is  not  lacking  to  do  so. 
His  eye  and  his  hand  must  be  upon  every 
man  under  him,  and  he  must  maintain  very 
close,  sympathetic  relations  with  the  whole 
missionary  body  dependent  upon  the  Bible 
Societies  for  the  Scriptures  needed  for 
successful  evangelization  and  church  build- 
ing. 

In  passing,  let  me  make  appreciative  men- 
tion of  one  unusual  privilege.  Our  excel- 
lent compradore  opened  for  us  the  door  into 
the  unknown  country  of  Chinese  social  life 
by  giving  us  a Chinese  feast.  It  was  served 
in  thirty  or  forty  courses,  which  included 
sharks’-fin  soup,  and  edible  birds’  nests,  and 
lily  roots,  and  bamboo  shoots,  and  I know 
not  what  further  miracles  of  cookery,  which 
were  eaten  with  chopsticks  chiefly  and  en- 
livened by  a cunning  conjurer’s  tricks.  We 
had  a special  room  in  a large  restaurant,  but 
the  diners  in  the  main  room  crowded  and 
peered  curiously  at  the  “ foreign  devils  ” as 
they  ate. 

Our  route  from  Shanghai  was  northward 
to  Peking  via  ocean  steamer  to  Tientsin, 
thence  across  the  country  to  Hankow  by  rail, 
thirty-six  hours  on  a “ once-a-week  ” train. 
From  Hankow  we  returned  to  Shanghai  by 
steamer  down  the  famous  Yang-tse-Kiang, 
the  great  natural  highway  of  travel  for  cen- 
tral China.  I shall  speak  in  another  letter 
of  northern  China,  but  now  must  confine 
myself  to  the  Yang-tse  valley. 

This  mighty  river  flows  three  thousand 
miles  from  Tibet,  “ the  roof  of  Asia,”  drains 
a basin  of  six  hundred  thousand  square  miles, 
and  touches,  in  its  long  flow  to  the  sea  (be- 
low Shanghai),  nine  Chinese  provinces  con- 
taining one  hundred  and  eighty  million  souls, 
or  more  than  twice  as  many  as  there  are 
in  the  whole  United  States.  As  it  pours  its 
tawny  flood  toward  the  ocean,  it  meets  the 
incoming  tide  three  hundred  miles  from  its 
mouth.  Both  ocean  and  river  steamers  come 
as  far  as  Hankow,  six  hundred  miles  from  the 


sea,  but  the  Yang-tse  is  navigable  for  one 
thousand  miles  farther  by  steamers  of  lighter 
draft. 

What  a mission  field  is  this  Yang-tse  valley, 
and  what  a field  for  Bible  work ! 

Hankow  is  in  the  province  of  Hupeh,  which 
has  an  area  of  about  seventy  thousand  square 
miles,  considerably  larger  than  England  and 
Wales,  and  a population  of  thirty-four  mil- 
lion. It  is  one  of  a trio  of  cities  related  to 
each  other  geographically,  somewhat  as  are 
New  York,  Brooklyn,  and  Jersey  City.  The 


SIAO  LIN  SUNG,  COMPRADORE  AMERICAN  BIBLE 
SOCIETY,  SHANGHAI 


Han  River,  emptying  into  the  Yang-tse  at 
this  point,  separates  Hankow  and  Han  Yan; 
and  across  the  vast  breadth  of  the  Yang-tse 
from  both  lies  Wuchang,  the  population  of 
the  three  cities  reaching,  perhaps,  a mil- 
lion. Wuchang,  the  smallest,  is  politically 
the  most  important  of  the  three,  as  it  is 
the  capital  of  the  province  and  the  seat 
of  the  government  of  the  famous  Viceroy 
Chang  Chih  Tung,  around  which,  naturally, 
both  Mandarins  and  would-be  Mandarins 
are  gathered.  Mr.  Arnold  Foster,  a com- 


28 


Around  the  World  for  the  American  Bible  Society 


petent  authority,  describes  Hankow  as  the 
great  center  of  gravity  for  the  trade  not 
only  of  the  province,  but  also  of  the  em- 
pire, the  rendezvous  for  all  central  China, 
whose  trade  and  manufacture  indicate  the 
commercial  progress  of  the  empire.  In  1884, 
469  steamers  entered  the  port  of  Hankow, 
with  a tonnage  of  half  a million ; twenty 
years  later  1,417  steamers,  with  a tonnage  of 
a million  and  a half.  Iron  works,  mints, 
and  factories  of  every  kind  are  to  be  seen 
here. 

We  had  time  for  but  a glimpse  of  a “ model  ” 
foreign  settlement  which  extended  for  three- 
quarters  of  a mile  along  the  river,  then  a 
brief  visit  to  some  of  the  missions  in  Han- 
kow and  Wuchang.  It  is  a stronghold  of  the 
American  Episcopal  Church,  and  Bishop 
Roots  hospitably  received  us,  sitting  beside 
me  in  the  pew  of  his  cathedral  at  the  noon- 
day service,  while  one  of  the  inferior  clergy 
conducted  a simple  service  with  earnestness 
and  simplicity,  afterward  showing  us  some  of 
the  admirable  work  of  his  mission.  In  the 
afternoon  we  saw  a notable  group  of  buildings 
of  the  same  Episcopal  mission  at  Wuchang, 
and  some  of  the  Methodist  missions  also, 
and  were  overwhelmed  at  every  turn  by  the 
magnificence  of  the  opportunity  before  the 
Church  of  Christ.  Who  is  sufficient  for  these 
things  ? 

Then  we  went  on  by  night  to  Kiukiang, 
where  our  superintendent,  the  Rev.  T.  C. 
Crouse,  is  stationed.  With  him  we  spent 
part  of  one  day,  long  enough  to  take  a hasty 
glimpse  of  the  quaint  old  city,  with  its  little 
foreign  settlement  adjacent  to  a characteris- 
tically Chinese  city,  and,  best  of  all,  we  met 
our  own  colporteurs,  who  had  gathered  at  his 
house. 

Mr.  Crouse  is  doing  effective  work,  but 
in  place  of  a single  laborer  there  ought  to 
be  half  a dozen  like  him  in  the  valley  of  the 
Yang-tse. 

The  openings  for  the  gospel  are  sometimes 
extraordinary.  Quite  recently  a heathen  tem- 
ple in  a village  which  Mr.  Crouse  and  some 
members  of  his  family  reached,  has  been 
turned  over  to  Christian  missionaries  as  a 
Christian  church,  the  leading  man  of  the  vil- 
lage coming  a long  distance  to  talk  with  our 
agent  about  the  new  doctrine,  begging  for 
himself  and  his  neighbors  that  the  gospel 
might  be  preached  to  them.  One  can  under- 


stand the  meaning  of  the  Acts  of  the  Apos- 
tles when  one  travels  from  city  to  city  and 
province  to  province  in  China.  The  Apostles, 
however,  had  no  such  splendid  steamer  service 
as  we  had. 

We  stopped  on  Sunday  at  Nanking,  which, 
though  smaller,  is  hardly  less  important  than 
Hankow  itself. 

Nanking  is  an  ancient  and  very  Chinese  city, 
twenty-two  miles  in  circumference  and  seven 
in  diameter.  It  was  the  metropolis  in  the 
fourth  century  and  is  still  a seat  of  culture. 
Here  we  saw  bodies  of  troops  well  enough 
uniformed  and  drilled  to  be  taken  for  Japa- 
nese. China  is  organizing  her  army,  as  can 
easily  be  seen,  and  we  got  our  first  glimpse 
of  the  new  army  here. 

We  drove  across  this  strangely  fascinating 
bit  of  antiquity  clear  to  the  other  side  and 
into  the  country,  to  find  the  Presbyterian, 
Methodist,  and  Christian  missionaries  well 
established  and  ready  to  listen  to  Dr.  Hykes 
and  to  me  at  their  services  Sunday  after- 
noon. 

Early  on  Monday  morning  I spoke  to  the 
Theological  School,  ably  conducted  by  the 
missionaries  of  the  Presbyterian  Churches 
(North  and  South) ; then  in  the  Union  School, 
jointly  conducted  by  two  denominations,  Pres- 
byterian and  Christian,  and  we  heard  much 
from  the  missionaries  of  the  proposed  Nan- 
king Christian  University ; then  we  were  off 
again  by  another  fine  river  steamer  for 
Shanghai. 

An  amusing  incident  shows  the  rapid  fer- 
mentation of  the  new  ideas.  As  we  sat  in 
the  saloon  one  evening  a Chinese  official,  well 
dressed  and  well  bred,  was  busily  engaged  with 
what  I took  for  a Chinese  and  English  dic- 
tionary. He  was  a superintendent  of  the 
new  public  schools,  and  had  attended  a con- 
vention of  the  Young  Men’s  Christian  Asso- 
ciation as  the  Viceroy’s  representative.  Pro- 
ducing with  great  enthusiasm  a paper,  he 
showed  us,  carefully  written  out  in  English 
and  Chinese,  what  he  called  the  “ holy  poems,” 
viz.,  “Hail  Columbia”  and  “My  Country, 
’Tis  of  Thee!” 

To  his  great  delight  we  joined  him  in  a 
laborious  effort  to  render  the  music  so 
familiar  to  us  and  so  unfamiliar  to  him. 
The  result  was  unique.  Perhaps  it  was  the 
“music  of  the  future.”  Who  can  say  what 
China  may  yet  become  musically  ! 


The  Shanghai  Conference  and  Bible  Translation 


29 


VIII.  The  Shanghai  Conference  and  Bible  Translation 


THE  Shanghai  Conference  could  not  be 
fully  described  in  even  one  whole  num- 
ber of  the  Record.  The  official  report,  when 
issued,  will  make  a large  volume,  and  the 
excellent  unofficial  publication  of  the  North 
China  Daily  Herald  and  News  is  a pamphlet 
of  fifty  large  and  closely-printed  pages.  Such 
reports,  however  accurate,  cannot  picture  the 
living,  glowing  reality.  This  remains,  bright 
and  beautiful,  in  the  memory  of  those  of  us 
whose  high  privilege  it  was  to  sit  with  the 
glorious  company  of  missionaries,  men  and 
women,  from  April  25th  to  May  7th,  and  to 
share  their  goodly  fellowship  in  the  Martyrs’ 
Memorial  Hall  (one  part  of  the  new  Chinese 
Young  Men’s  Christian  Association),  com- 
memorating all  the  martyr  missionaries  of 
the  century.  The  noble  army  of  martyrs 
must  surely  have  been  present  in  spirit  in 
this  upper  room,  which  has  been  finished  just 
in  season  for  the  Conference ; for  there  had 
newly  come  to  share  the  estate  of  the  mar- 
tyrs, out  of  the  great  tribulation  in  China  in 
the  year  of  grace  1900,  some  who  else  might 
have  been  here. 

The  last  Conference  met  in  1890.  Ten  years 
later  was  the  natural  date  for  this  one,  but 
the  chronology  of  divine  purpose  read  differ- 
ently. In  1900  came  the  volcanic  “Boxer” 
outburst.  North  China  was  drenched  in  the 
blood  of  saints,  until  it  seemed  as  if  the  gates 
of  hell  would  prevail.  But  lo  ! instead  there 
has  come  out  of  the  ashes  of  despair  new  life 
from  the  dead,  until  the  phrase,  “the  renais- 
sance of  China”  has  become  a hackneyed 
commonplace,  so  clearly  is  it  recognized  that 
the  sleep  of  centuries  has  broken  and  China 
is  swinging  into  the  stream  of  human  prog- 
ress. The  value  of  this  Conference  consists 
first  of  all,  therefore,  in  its  providential  rela- 
tionship to  the  extraordinary  circumstances 
and  conditions  of  “new  China.”  Its  discus- 
sions have  a bearing  upon  the  great  question 
of  her  national  destiny.  Not  unmindful  of 
the  past,  it  looks  to  the  future. 

Never,  for  instance,  has  there  been  such  a 
demand  all  over  the  empire  for  the  Bible  as 
since  1900.  At  times  the  presses  could 
hardly  meet  it.  Never  could  there  be  a time 
more  opportune,  therefore,  for  the  churches 
of  Christ  in  China  to  press  on  toward  the 
speedy  perfecting  of  the  Chinese  versions. 
The  limits  of  space  will  require  me  to  dis- 
regard a score  of  other  matters  in  order  to 
speak  of  this  subject,  which  particularly  con- 
cerns the  Bible  Societies. 

First,  however,  let  me  give  some  general 


account  of  the  Conference  itself.  Its  voting 
membership  was  limited  strictly  to  Chinese 
missionaries  duly  appointed  as  delegates,  and 
of  these  there  were  476,  representing  3,833 
missionaries  in  all  China,  with  694  visitors,  a 
total  of  1,170,  coming  from  two  dozen  differ- 
ent countries,  representing  eighty  or  more 
boards.  Of  these,  seventy  or  more  were, 
like  myself,  the  official  representative  of 
such  boards.  We  were  not  expected  to  vote, 
and  were  only  given  the  privilege  of  debate 
under  rather  close  restrictions,  which  some 
objected  to,  but  on  the  whole  the  rule  seemed 
wise  and  was  not  abused. 

At  the  opening  reception  in  the  Shanghai 
Town  Hall,  where  the  evening  meetings 
were  held,  1,500  persons  were  present  when 
our  Dr.  Hykes,  as  President  of  the  Shang- 
hai Missionary  Association,  had  the  honor  of 
making  the  address  of  welcome  to  the  dele- 
gates. Prior  to  this,  in  the  afternoon,  the 
formal  organization  had  been  effected.  There 
were  two  Presidents — Dr.  J.  Campbell  Gib- 
son, an  English  Presbyterian,  and  Dr.  Arthur 
H.  Smith,  an  American  Congregationalist, 
both  men  admirably  typical  of  the  nations 
and  churches  which  they  represented — Dr. 
Smith,  brilliant,  witty,  and  resourceful ; Dr. 
Gibson,  slower  of  speech,  but  with  a weight 
of  wisdom  and  steady  poise  which  made 
his  occupancy  of  the  chair  not  less  acceptable. 
There  were  eight  Vice-Presidents — three 
American,  three  British,  one  German,  and 
one  Scandinavian — and  a sufficient  corps  of 
Secretaries  and  other  officers.  The  Execu- 
tive Committee,  prior  to  the  Conference  and 
during  its  session,  was  headed  by  Bishop 
Graves  of  the  American  Episcopal  Church, 
whose  hand  was  on  the  helm  constantly  and 
effectively.  Nor  must  we  forget  Mr.  Bond- 
field,  Agent  of  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible 
Society,  whose  invaluable  service  as  secre- 
tary of  the  committee  was  recognized  at  the 
close  of  the  Conference  by  the  present  of  a 
gold  watch  from  its  members. 

We  cannot  speak  at  length  of  the  personnel 
of  the  Conference.  There  were  such  veterans 
as  Dr.  Hunter  Corbett,  Dr.  C.  W.  Mateer, 
and  Dr.  W.  A.  P.  Martin  ; Dr.  Graves,  Bap- 
tist ; Bishop  Roots  of  the  Episcopal  Church, 
and  Bishop  Bashford  of  the  Methodist ; Dr. 
Ament  came  from  North  China,  and  Dr.  H. 
H.  Lowry,  Methodist,  and  Dr.  J.  Walter 
Lowrie,  Presbyterian  ; and  Dr.  Sheffield,  who 
had  the  singular  distinction  of  wearing  scars 
of  thirty-five  stab  wounds  made  by  a Chinese 
assassin  a dozen  years  ago — a walking  mir- 


30 


Around,  the  World  for  the  American  Bible  Society 


acle  he  seemed  ; Mr.  Hoste,  successor  to  Dr. 
Hudson  Taylor  as  head  of  the  China  In- 
land Mission,  was  there  with  some  of  his 
associates,  costumed  a la  Chinois,  one  of 
whom  made  the  only  quotation  from  Skakes- 
peare  I heard  during  the  sessions.  A dis- 


tinguished delegate  from  the  home-lands  was 
the  Rev.  Lord  William  Cecil,  Anglican,  a 
son  of  the  late  Lord  Salisbury.  It  would 
be  easy  to  name  a longer  list  of  men  of 
high  distinction  and  notable  ability  whose 
presence  gave  weight  and  significance  to  the 
assemby. 

Then,  too,  one  somehow  felt  as  he  looked 
upon  the  faces  of  this  peculiar  company,  that 
the  lowliest  and  least  distinguished  may  be 
best  known  in  heaven,  where  is  written  down 
many  a life  story,  precious  to  God  and  holy 
angels,  of  weary  years  spent  in  lonely  out- 
posts, remote  from  social  joys  and  home 
comforts.  The  privations  of  women  in  iso- 
lated stations,  borne  with  heroic  patience,  are 
chief  among  the  glories  of  the  evangelic  con- 
quest. The  missionaries  do  not  like  over- 
praise, for  they  know  their  own  limitations 
and  frailities,  but  they  are  as  a class  schooled 
in  the  habit  of  self-denial,  and  the  best  of 
them  carry  an  atmosphere  of  such  serene 
goodness  that  a fortnight  in  their  society  is 
an  education  in  piety. 

Two  things  were  blended  in  the  Conference 
in  rare  degree — devotion  and  business  method. 
At  8.30  punctually  every  morning  there  was 
a devotional  service,  continuing  until  9.15. 
Each  day  a different  speaker  preached,  se- 
lected from  the  visitors — not  from  the  mis- 
sionaries. The  business,  save  for  a noon 
recess  for  “tiffin,”  lasted  until  five  o’clock; 


then  there  was  usually  a prayer  meeting  in 
the  Union  Church,  which  ran  on  for  an  hour  or 
more,  and  it  was  understood  that  a “continuous 
prayer”  meeting  was  maintained  in  a room 
above  the  Conference  by  a succession  of  earn- 
est souls.  The  Sunday  services  were  rich 
and  inspiring  — Dr. 
Bevan,  formerly  of 
New  York,  especially 
stirring  a great  audi- 
ence. The  fervors  of 
prayer  were  not  mere 
interludes,  but  genuine 
auxiliaries  to  the 
prompt,  practical,  and 
efficacious  handling  of 
the  mighty  themes 
which  taxed  the  best 
wisdom  of  the  mission- 
ary body. 

The  Conference  of 
1890  left,  ad  interim , 
committees  to  consider 
and  digest  various  im- 
portant matters  to  be 
reported  to  this  Con- 
ference, and  other 
committees  were  cre- 
ated later.  These  all 
presented  their  reports,  each  printed  in  pam- 
phlet form  and  furnished  in  advance  to  the 
members  of  the  Conference.  Later  we  were 
given  a printed  set  of  resolutions  proposed 
for  adoption.  The  subjects  thus  predigested 
by  the  committees  were  then  discussed  and 
rediscussed,  amended  and  reamended,  after 
very  free  debate  by  the  Conference  itself. 
Only  rarely  were  other  subjects  introduced. 
So  it  was  secured  that  time  and  thought 
should  be  concentrated  on  what  is  vital  to 
missionary  progress,  and  not  wasted  in  side 
issues  and  mischievous  hobby-riding. 

The  result  was  a solid  body  of  mature  con- 
clusions not  lightly  to  be  set  aside.  While 
devoid  of  any  shred  of  ecclesiastical  author- 
ity, they  must  have  great  spiritual  power.  It 
is  not  necessary  to  claim  that  they  could  not 
have  been  bettered.  Unum  in  Christo  was 
the  motto  of  the  Conference,  and  its  un- 
changing keynote,  yet  not  all  “union”  pro- 
posals passed  unchallenged — the  Union  Uni- 
versity for  all  China,  for  instance,  gave 
pause  to  many.  The  missionaries  felt  that 
they  were  struggling  with  things  too  high  for 
human  wisdom,  and  it  would  be  easy  to  sug- 
gest here  and  there  corrections  or  additions 
from  various  points  of  view.  They  attempted 
to  settle  for  China,  pro  tempore  at  least,  some 
questions  which  have  been  the  recognized  foci 
of  debate  and  often  of  divisive  controversy 
in  the  Church  of  God  in  all  ages.  The 


The  Shanghai  Conference  and  Bible  Translation 


31 


Chinese  Church  and  the  Chinese  ministry,  for 
instance,  were  the  first  topics  discussed.  This 
involves  the  very  crux  of  the  chief  problems 
of  all  church  organization.  It  naturally  con- 
nected itself  with  the  report  of  another  com- 
mittee, made  later,  on  “ Comity  and  Federa- 
tion.” It  was  observable  that  the  action 
finally  taken  under  the  latter  head  seemed  to 
vary  somewhat  from  the  line  drawn  under  the 
former.  At  first  the  Conference  declared  its 
purpose  to  plant  one  Church  in  China,  but 
afterward  when  substantially  the  same  goal 
was  set  up  as  the  consummation  of  a plan  of 
Provincial  and  General  Councils,  the  com- 
mittee’s language  was  reduced  by  amend- 
ment to  the  less  definite  declaration — “ the 
establishment  of  the  Kingdom  of  God  in 
China.”  This  shows  the  care  with  which 
phraseology  was  considered,  and  also  that 
there  were  latent  differences  of  view  ready  to 
emerge.  But  there  was  no  difference  what- 
ever in  the  catholic  temper  in  which  they 
were  handled.  “ The  Missionary  and  Public 
Questions  ” raised  the  old  puzzle  of  Church 
and  State  in  another  form,  and  one  with  new 
perplexities  peculiar  to  China.  The  question 
of  creeds  was  touched  at  the  very  outset,  and 
might  easily  have  wrecked  the  Conference,  but 


These  details  must  be  enough  to  sug- 
gest the  scope  and  temper  of  the  Con- 
ference as  it  dealt  with  Education,  Chris- 
tian Literature,  Evangelistic  Work,  Medical 
Missions,  Woman’s  Work,  and  other  like 
matters,  a truly  Chinese  flavor  being  imparted 
by  the  half  day’s  discussion  on  Ancestor 
Worship.  Considering  the  difficulties  of  the 
problems  attacked,  the  general  unanimity  at- 
tained was  a wonderful  tribute  to  the  breadth 
of  mind,  depth  of  insight,  and  above  all  the 
unfailing  brotherliness  of  the  missionaries, 
all  and  singular.  A good  epitaph  for  this 
oriental  Assembly  of  Divines  would  be,  “ Be- 
hold how  these  misionaries  love  one  an- 
other.” 

The  discussion  of  Bible  translation  could 
hardly  be  called  a debate.  The  only  debat- 
able question  had  been  avoided  by  ruling  out 
the  ' term  ” question  altogether  from  discus- 
sion— a question,  that  is,  of  the  proper  terms 
for  the  translation  of  the  words  “ God”  and 
“ Holy  Spirit.”  This  has  been  a moot  point 
from  the  beginning.  It  affected  the  Bible 
Societies  very  directly.  This  Society,  for 
instance,  has  found  it  necessary  to  print 
Bibles  containing  two  or  three  sets  of  terms 
perferred  by  different  classes  of  missionaries. 


REVISION  COMMITTEE  AT  WORK  ON  CHINESE  BIBLE  (HIGH  WENLI  VERSION),  PEI-TAI-HE,  CHINA 


a mitigated  assent  was  finally  agreed  on  to 
the  Apostles’  and  theNicene  creeds  as  “ sub- 
stantially expressing  the  fundamental  doctrines 
of  the  Christian  faith,”  while  not  indorsing 
any  creed  as  such,  leaving  “confessional 
questions  ” to  the  Chinese  Church. 


A compromise — “ Shangti  ” for  God,  and 
“ Shengling  ” for  Holy  Spirit — seems  now 
pretty  generally  agreed  upon,  though  there 
is  a weighty  minority  averse  to  the  compro- 
mise. 

The  most  important  matter  connected  with 


32 


Around  the  World  for  the  American  Bible  Society 


Holy  Scripture  before  the  Conference  was  the 
presentation  and  acceptance,  without  demur, 
of  the  reports  of  the  three  committees  on  Bible 
translation  which  had  been  sitting  since  the  last 
Conference.  Some  explanations  are  necessary 
to  show  what  this  means.  These  have  indeed 
been  made  before  in  various  forms  in  the 
Record.  For  a hundred  years  missionary 
scholars  have  been  busy  in  making  and  perfect- 
ing translations,  but  only  in  1890  was  there  a 
definite,  organized  plan  for  Union  versions 
representing  not  individuals  or  groups,  but 
the  whole  missionary  body.  So  one  commit- 
tee was  set  to  make  a Union  version  into 
Mandarin,  based,  of  course,  on  the  existing 
versions,  and  two  more  into  the  Classical  or 
“Wenli.”  Wenli  is  not  the  spoken  but  the 
written  “classical”  language  of  China,  and 
is  wholly  different  from  the  spoken  speech. 
It  is  the  language  of  letters — of  belles-lettres , 
of  formal  correspondence,  and  of  business  and 
official  communication — the  pet  and  pride 
of  the  literati  and  the  scholars,  unknown  to 
the  ignobile  vulgus.  Dr.  Gibson  calls  it  “an 
elegant  literary  artifice.”  It  is  ceremonious, 
elegant  “Johnsonese  ” at  its  stiffest,  when  it 
is  called  High  Wenli  ; but  it  can  be  made 
easier  and  more  pliable,  and  then  the  trans- 
lators call  it  “Easy”  Wenli.  The  Bible  al- 
ready exists  in  it.  Committees  were  ap- 
pointed to  translate  it. 

Although  a written  language,  it  can  be 
read  aloud,  but  when  it  is  read  in  church  it 
is  pronounced  according  to  the  spoken  dia- 
lect of  the  reader.  This,  of  course,  varies  in 
different  parts  of  China.  When  the  Bible  is 
thus  read  it  is  translated  by  the  reader  or 
paraphrased  into  the  spoken  speech ; or,  it 
maybe,  he  does  not  pronounce  the  written 
language  at  all,  but  simply  makes  an  im- 
promptu translation  as  he  reads  it  into  the 
spoken  language.  This  spoken  language  is 
for  more  than  300,000,000  Chinese  the  Man- 
darin, the  most  important,  because  used  by  the 
largest  number  of  people,  and  also  because  it  is 
the  official  speech  used  in  courts  of  justice  and 
elsewhere.  But  besides  this  there  are  at  least 
eight  principal  “ dialects,”  which  might  better 
be  called  languages,  for  they  differ  from  each 
other  and  from  Mandarin  as  widely  as  Euro- 
pean languages  generally  differ  from  each 
other.  In  addition  to  these  eight  on  nine  prin- 
cipal languages,  there  are  twenty  or  thirty 
minor  ones,  not  counting  mere  patois.  When, 
therefore,  critics  sneer  at  missionaries  for  their 
failure  to  translate  the  Chinese  Bible  to  their 
own  satisfaction,  they  forget  what  a linguistic 
jungle  Chinese  speech  is.  Sir  Robert  Hart 
fitly  speaks  of  the  “ China  sea  of  language.” 

The  committees  at  the  present  Conference 
placed  on  its  table  complete  versions  of  the 


New  Testament  in  Mandarin,  in  High  Wenli 
and  in  Easy  Wenli,  and  it  was  resolved  that 
the  two  Wenli  Committees  (High  and  Low) 
should  now  aim  at  the  production  of  one 
Wenli  version.  Meanwhile  the  Bible  Socie- 
ties are  asked  to  print  these  three  versions, 
that  they  may  be  tried  by  use  for  three 
years.  All  this  refers  to  the  New  Testament. 
Steps  were  taken  in  the  Conference  to  go  on 
at  once  with  the  translation  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment. 

To  this  end  executive  committees  were 
constituted,  having  entire  supervision  of  the 
work  of  producing  one  “ Standard  Union  Bible 
in  Chinese.”  These  committees  are  to  select 
five  qualified  missionaries  as  translators  for 
Wenli  and  another  five  for  Mandarin. 

The  Conference  expressed  the  gratitude  of 
the  missions  and  churches  in  China  to  the 
three  Bible  Societies  for  their  help,  asked 
them  each  to  appoint  an  agent  as  an  ex-officio 
member  of  both  executive  committees,  and  to 
provide  all  fiends  needed  to  meet  the  expenses  of 
this  work. 

The  italics  are  mine,  for  the  words  deserve 
emphasis.  Translation  is  only  one  of  the 
many  tasks  of  most  translators,  so  that  their 
salaries  are  not  usually  borne  by  the  Bible 
Societies,  but  the  other  expenses  are.  The 
Conference  appealed  to  the  mission  boards  to 
relieve  translators  of  other  duties,  so  that 
they  may  give  themselves  as  far  as  possible 
to  this  one  thing.  This  is  a point  of  para- 
mount importance,  which  I ventured  to  urge 
in  the  few  moments  that  I had  before  the 
Conference.  Naturally  translators  are  much 
in  demand  for  other  things.  But  is  there 
anything  more  needful  than  this  ? If  it  in- 
volved the  payment  of  the  salaries  by  the 
Bible  Societies,  their  supporters  should  fur- 
nish the  means  if  the  missionaries  furnish  the 
men  set  apart  to  this  high  use. 

All  this  gives  an  impression  of  what  the 
function  of  the  Bible  Society  is  in  China.  It 
is  no  light  responsibility  to  do  what  we  are 
asked,  but  there  is  still  more.  Other  actions 
of  the  Conference  refer  to  the  use  of  the  Bible 
in  the  home,  school  and  Church.  Nothing  is 
here  said  about  the  “dialect”  versions,  nor 
of  Romanization,  i.e.,  the  printing  of  Chinese 
Bibles  in  the  Roman  alphabet — a practice 
growing  in  favor,  but  at  first  requiring  a 
duplication  of  our  issues  in  many  cases  ; nor 
of  the  further  complication  due  to  the  neces- 
sity of  printing  the  text  with  different  terms 
for  God ; nor  of  the  whole  business  of  dis- 
tributing the  books  all  over  the  Chinese 
Empire,  without  which  our  printing  would  be 
of  little  use.  The  catalogue  of  our  Chinese 
Agency  shows  a total  of  seventeen  different 
versions  and  400  or  more  different  editions 


The  Shanghai  Conference  and  Bible  Tra7islation 


33 


ready  for  use,  and  there  are  others  to  be  added, 
without  counting  those  in  English  and  other 
Western  languages.  Surely  our  modest  an- 
nual appropriation,  which  amounts  usually  to 
about  $35,000,  needs  to  be  doubled  at  least 
if  we  are  to  do  what  must  be  done. 

With  this  we  must  leave  the  Shanghai 
Conference,  passing  over  many  a theme  of 
fascinating  interest  : That  heroic  figure  in 
the  far  background  of  the  century,  Robert 
Morrison,  whom  Carlyle  might  well  have 


painted  for  his  gallery,  “ The  Hero  as  Mis- 
sionary ” ; the  visit  of  the  Viceroy’s  repre- 
sentative ; the  various  social  functions ; the 
sparkling  facetta,  wherein  our  American 
President  bore  his  full  part — it  was  all  good 
and  pleasant  to  see  brethren  dwell  together 
in  unity  and  the  precious  oil  running  down  as 
of  old. 

The  women  had  their  field  day,  when  the 
peculiar  need  of  Chinese  womanhood  was 
treated,  largely  by  women  themselves. 

The  first  resolution  passed 
by  them  was  an  urgent 
appeal  to  the  Bible  So- 
cieties and  the  translators 
to  see  that  the  whole  Bible 
is  speedily  put  into  the 
Roman  alphabet,  both  in 
the  Mandarin  and  the 
other  colloquial  dialects, 
because  the  women  of 
China  can  learn  to  read  this 
much  more  easily  than  the 
Chinese  characters. 

I called  attention  in  my 
last  letter  to  the  extraor- 
dinary memories  of  the 
Chinese  women  as  indicated 
by  seven  young  girls,  each 
of  whom  committed  to 
memory  the  whole  New 
Testament.  Christian 
women  of  America,  will  you 
not  help  us  for  Christ’s  sake 
to  put  the  Bible  that  you 
teach  your  daughters 
into  the  hands  of  these  your 
suffering  sisters  in  China  ? 
“A  Bible  for  every  home 
in  America”  was  a potent 
cry  in  the  beginning  of 
Bible  Societies.  A good 
one  now  would  be,  “A 
Bible  for  every  home  in 
China.” 


From  nil  engraving  hi/  Turner,  Engraver  to  Uis  Majesty 

THE  REV.  DR.  MORRISON  AND  HIS  ASSISTANTS  TRANSLATING  THE 
BIBLE  INTO  THE  CHINESE  LANGUAGE 


CHINESE  AND  MANCHU  LADIES 


IX.  A Peep  at  Peking  and  Beyond 

(For  Boys  and  Girls) 


DEAR  “BIBLE  LOVERS”:  On  the  cover 
yon  will  notice  a picture  of  a colporteur 
of  our  Society  wheeling  a load  of  Bibles. 
This  will  give  you  a hint  of  some  of  the 
strange  things  to  be  seen  in  China.  The 
wheelbarrow,  to  be  sure,  is  familiar  enough 
at  home,  but  the  use  made  of  it  in  China 
would  quite  surprise  you.  Not  only  does  it 
carry  Bibles  and  other  things,  but  people 
also.  It  is  sometimes  built  on  the  model  of 
an  Irish  jaunting-car,  where  one  or  two  per- 
sons sit  back  to  back,  looking  not  ahead  or 
behind,  but  to  the  side.  Peking  people  nat- 
urally like  the  Peking  cart,  and  one  can  see 
whole  familes  crowded  into  them.  They  are 
very  jolty  and  bumpy,  for  they  have  no  springs; 
and  the  wheelbarrow,  though  a humbler  car- 
riage, is  perhaps  a little  easier. 

I wonder  if  you  have  ever  heard  of  Wang 
the  Wheelbarrow  Man,  a Chinese  Christian 
who  in  twenty-five  days  wheeled  his  mother 
four  hundred  miles  in  a wheelbarrow.  She 
sat  on  one  side,  with  her  household  belong- 
ings packed  on  the  other.  She  had  been 
thrown  out  of  a Peking  cart  and  injured,  and 
found  the  wheelbarrow  rather  more  comfort- 
able. “ Honor  thy  father  and  thy  mother  ” is 
a commandment  well  known  in  China.  Our 
colporteurs,  of  course,  can  make  good  use 
both  of  carts  and  wheelbarrows,  as  the  pic- 
ture suggests. 

The  streets  of  Peking  seemed  to  me  more 


strange  and  wonderful  than  anything  I had 
ever  read  of  in  story  books.  They  were  filled 
with  people  like  ourselves,  yet  oh,  how  quaint 
and  peculiar  in  costume  and  looks  ! The 
“ ’ricksha”  men  have  poor  and  scanty  attire; 
but  a Chinese  gentleman,  in  light  blue  trousers 
and  with  a heavy  outer  coat  reaching  to  his 
ankles,  made  of  darker  or  richer  silk,  usually 
blue  or  something  more  gorgeous  still,  and 
with  his  queue,  nicely  braided  and  long  enough 
maybe  to  carry  round  like  a watch  chain, 
fastened  to  his  pocket  in  front,  deserves,  if 
anyone  does,  to  be  called  a “dandy.” 

One  of  the  strangest  sights  that  I saw  was 
a factory  for  making  queues  by  American 
machinery.  It  was  humming  noisily  away, 
not  in  Peking,  but  in  Canton,  hard  by  the 
very  spot  where  Robert  Morrison,  the  first 
Protestant  missionary,  lived.  The  Manchu 
women  of  Peking  wear  headdresses  which 
eclipse  the  smartest  Easter  bonnets.  A fash- 
ionable street  in  Peking,  filled  with  Mandarins, 
soldiers,  coolies,  shopmen,  gaily  head-dressed 
Manchu  belles,  Chinese  women  with  painted 
faces,  tottering  along  in  shoes  tiny  as  a doll’s 
and  as  dainty  as  any  Parisian  shoe  could  be, 
looks  like  a kind  of  animated  flower  garden. 
Joseph,  in  his  coat  of  many  colors,  would 
feel  quite  at  home. 

Our  train  rumbled  through  the  ancient  wall 
of  this  strange  city  and  drew  up  near  to  one 
of  its  famous  gates  just  as  evening  fell,  and 


A Peep  at  Peking  and  Beyond 


35 


in  a few  moments  we  were  whisked  away  in 
a ’ricksha,  that  curious  two-wheeled  car- 
riage with  its  human  horse,  to  the  only  hotel 
— the  “ Wagon  Lits.”  It  stands  near  what  is 
known  as  the  “ Legation  Quarter.”  Here  the 
ministers  and  ambassadors  of  foreign  nations 
have  their  residences  in  a street  much  like 
the  streets  of  Europe  or  America.  Each 
legation  has  its  little  army  of  soldiers  in  its 
national  uniform,  French,  British,  Austrian, 
Italian,  with  their  flags,  including  “Old Glory,” 
flying  overhead. 

Peking  is  not  one  city,  but  a city  of  cities. 
China  is  now  ruled  by  a race  of  kings  (and 
queens)  who  were  once  Tai'tars  in  Manchu- 
ria. So  in  Peking  there  is  a Chinese  city 
and  a Tartar  city.  The  great  wall  encircling 
them  both  is  twenty-five  miles  or  so  in  cir- 
cumference, but  they  are  separated  from  each 
other  by  another  wall.  Within  the  Tartar 
city  there  is  another  called  the  “Imperial 
City,”  with  its  wall,  and  then  within  that  a 
still  smaller  called  the  “Forbidden  City,” 
where  the  Emperor  and  the  Dowager  Em- 
press and  the  Court  dwell,  and  where  no 
foreigner  can  go  unless  bidden.  The  Dow- 
ager Empress  has  a name  that  you  may 
think  funny — Tsze-Hi  Toanyu  Kangi  Chaoyu 
Chuangcheng  Shokung  Chinhien  Chungsih — 
but  she  is  called  “Tsze-Hi”  for  short.  The 
principal  gates  leading  through  these  walls 
we  would  hardly  call  gates  at  all.  They  are 
more  like  fortresses,  and  this,  indeed,  they 
are  sometimes. 

How  would  you  like  to  take  a walk  on  top 


of  a wall  ? I walked  on  one  broad  enough 
for  carriages  to  pass  abreast,  and  was  shown 
the  place  where  seven  years  ago  a fierce  bat- 
tle was  fought,  on  top  of  the  wall  and  beneath 
it.  This  was  during  the  dreadful  “Boxer” 
war,  when  hundreds  of  thousands  of  furious 
Chinese  fanatics  sought  the  lives  of  all  for- 
eigners. 

I looked  out  from  the  wall  over  the  place 
where  missionaries,  and  merchants,  and  am- 
bassadors, and  foreigners  generally,  were 
penned  in  the  British  Legation  for  fifty-six 
days  while  an  avalanche  of  shot  and  shell 
poured  upon  them  day  and  night.  For  two 
weeks  before  that  the  Methodist  missionaries 
were  shut  into  their  own  mission  compound. 
Here  it  was  (Dr.  Headland  has  told  the  story 
in  his  book  on  “ Chinese  Heroes,”  which  you 
ought  to  read)  that  Wang  the  Wheelbarrow 
Man  was  shot  down.  Soon  after  his  death 
his  comrades  fled  to  join  the  other  foreigners 
in  the  British  Legation. 

In  one  part  of  the  legation  wall,  peppered 
with  shot  and  shell,  there  are  three  English 
words  graven  in  the  stone — “Lest  we  for- 
get”; but  those  dreadful  summer  days  are 
not  likely  to  be  forgotten  very  soon. 

I cannot  begin  to  tell  you  of  all  the  won- 
derful temples  and  palaces  of  Peking.  Per- 
haps there  is  none  more  wonderful  than  the 
“Altar  of  Heaven” — there  is  a “Temple  of 
Heaven,”  but  the  “Altar”  is  itself  a temple 
— a temple  without  a roof  and  without  walls. 
It  is  a magnificent,  polished  white  marble 
pavement,  which  you  ascend  by  successive 

flights  of  steps  to 
a central  Altar. 
There  under  the 
open  heaven,  with 
no  priest,  no  choir, 
no  splendid  pomp, 
the  Emperor  of 
China  goes  once 
a year  alone  to 
worship.  What  he 
worships  we  can- 
not say — perhaps 
he  could  not  say 
himself;  but  in 
some  way  he 
seems  to  worship 
God,  even  though 
it  be  as  the  Un- 
known God  whom 
the  Bible  tells  us  is 
not  far  from  every 
one  of  us.  As 
the  Jewish  High 
Priest  went  once 
alone  into  the 
presence  of  God, 


THE  HATA-MEN  GATE,  PEKING 


36 


Arou?id  the  World  for  the  American  Bible  Society 


STONE  ANIMALS — THE  APPROACH  TO  THE  MING  TOMBS 


so  this  Emperor 
of  the  most  ancient 
empire  now  on 
earth  goes  in  some 
way  representing 
his  people. 

Do  you  not  think 
that  there  ought  to 
be  close  to  this 
Temple  of  Heaven 
something  that  will 
make  known  to  him 
and  his  people  the 
right  way  of  ap- 
proach into  the 
presence  of  our 
Heavenly  Father, 
through  him  who 
said,  “ I am  the 
way”?  Well, 
there  are  such 
places  all  over  Pe- 
king, for  we  found 
not  only  great  and 
splendid  heathen  temples,  but  churches  of  the 
Living  God,  better  built  than  they  were  be- 
fore they  were  burned  down  by  the  “ Boxers.” 
In  any  of  these  churches  the  Emperor  may 
hear  of  the  great  High  Priest  who  is  passed 
into  the  heavens,  there  to  appear  in  the  pres- 
ence of  God  for  us. 

There  is  one  spot  that  you  particularly 
ought  to  know  about.  Quite  close  to  the 
great  gate  into  the  Imperial  City,  and  not  far 
from  the  Forbidden  City,  is  the  depot  of  the 
American  Bible  Society.  Since  I was  in 
Peking  it  caught  fire  and  was  partially  burned, 
but  fortunately  none  of  the  books  were  burned. 
Our  agent,  the  Rev.  Walter  S.  Elliott,  writes 
me  that  not  long  ago  one  of  the  officials 
dressed  in  the  uniform  of  the  palace  came  out 
from  the  palace  of  the  Emperor  (as  he  was 
passing  by  selling  Bibles)  and  bought  from 
him  several  portions  of  the  Holy  Scriptures. 
These  portions  are  themselves  enough  to  tell 
the  Emperor  of  the  true  God  and  eternal  life. 
Thank  God  that  the  Bible  can  go  where  the 
missionary  is  forbidden  to  go.  I am  sorry 
to  say  that  our  headquarters  in  Peking  are 
by  no  means  as  handsome  as  they  ought  to 
be,  for  the  main  building  is  really  nothing 
but  an  old  gate-house,  and  rather  forlorn ; 
but  some  day  you  may  be  able  to  help  us 
build  a better  one.  If  you  went  there  now 
you  would  probably  find  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Elliott 
and  his  little  children,  boys  and  girls,  living 
in  a rough  stone  house  across  the  court  from 
the  gate-house;  for  when  I was  there  they 
were  arranging  to  have  it  fixed  up  a little  for 
their  home,  though  it  is  even  yet  not  what  it 
ought  to  be. 


Thirty  miles  outside  of  Peking  there  is  a 
cemetery  like  none  other  upon  earth.  It  con- 
sists of  a vast  plain,  I should  think  thirty 
miles  long,  surrounded  by  mountains.  In  it 
thirteen  emperors  lie  in  solitary  grandeur. 
These  are  the  emperors  of  the  Ming  Dynasty, 
the  first  of  whom  began  to  reign  more  than 
five  centuries  ago,  when  Chaucer  was  telling 
in  England  his  Canterbury  Tales,  and  the  last 
of  them  hung  himself  in  Oliver  Cromwell’s 
day.  Each  monarch  lies  alone  in  solemn 
state,  surrounded  by  a group  of  splendid 
buildings,  a few  miles  away  from  his  next 
royal  dead  neighbor.  The  one  whose  tomb  I 
had  time  to  visit  is  approached  by  an  avenue 
lined  on  either  side  with  huge  stone  camels, 
lions,  elephants,  and  horses,  so  lifelike  that 
one  of  our  horses  ran  away  when  he  saw  his 
stone  image  before  him ; and  besides  these, 
statues  of  famous  men  who  lived  in  that  long- 
gone  day. 

From  there,  after  a night’s  sleep  on  a stone 
bed  in  a Chinese  inn,  we  rode  up  the  mountain 
pass  of  Nankou  to  see  another  wonder  of 
the  world  — the  great  Chinese  Wall  — 1,500 
miles  long  and  more  than  twenty  - one 
centuries  old.  It  was  built  to  shut  out  the 
wild  tribes  of  the  north,  one  of  whom,  how- 
ever, in  spite  of  the  wall,  conquered  China, 
and,  in  the  person  of  the  great  Dowager  Em- 
press Tsze-Hi,  now  rules  China.  In  visiting 
these  two  great  wonders  I rode  nearly  fifty 
miles  on  a donkey,  sometimes  over  rocks, 
and  once  when  the  donkey  took  a notion, 
partly  into  a Chinese  house,  and  I would  have 
been  glad,  indeed,  for  a wheelbarrow  and 
good  Mr.  Wang  to  wheel  me. 


THE  GREAT  WALL  OF  CHINA 


X.  North  China  and  New  China 


THE  famous  Church  in  Rome,  “St.  Paul 
Without  the  Walls”  has  a parallel  in 
China,  for  there  is  a China  without  the  Wall,  and 
a Chinese  Church  without  the  Wall  has  been 
planted — it  is  but  a question  of  how  fast 
it  will  grow.  In  our  rapid  journey,  the  near- 
est that  we  could  come  to  seeing  it  was  in  the 
Nankou  Pass  through  which  one  of  the  great 
high  roads  of  travel  and  commerce  passes 
from  Peking  to  Kalgan  and  on  to  the  regions 
beyond.  Ours  was  scarcely  a holiday  jaunt. 
First  six  miles  in  ’rickshas  across  the  City  of 
Peking,  then  thirty  slow  miles  by  the  new 
Peking  and  Kalgan  railroad  to  Nankou,  where 
(after  a visit  to  the  Ming  Tombs)  we  spent 
part  of  the  night  in  a pretence  of  sleep  on  a 
Chinese  bed.  At  half-past  two  the  next  morn- 
ing we  started  by  moonlight,  on  donkeys,  for 
the  summit  of  the  pass.  It  was  a breathless 
excitement  to  see,  in  the  cool  of  the  early 
dawn,  that  strange,  wonderful,  mountain  ave- 
nue. As  soon  as  it  was  light  it  filled  with  a 
throng  of  passengers — some  on  foot  and  some 
on  horse  or  mule  back,  with  flocks  of  sheep, 
and  still  more  picturesque  caravans  of  camels, 
the  living  tide  ever  flowing  until  it  seemed 


crowded  as  a city  street ; at  first  running 
through  sleeping  villages  on  the  plain,  then 
through  the  stern  grandeur  of  rough,  craggy 
mountain  scenery,  higher  and  higher  up  until 
we  reached  our  goal,  the  famous  ancient  Wall 
itself,  one  of  the  wonders  surely  of  this  Orient 
world. 

All  along  the  road  Chinese  engineers  and 
laborers,  hundreds  of  them,  were  busy  with 
drill  and  pick  pushing  the  line  of  the  railroad 
up  the  pass  and  on  to  Kalgan.  It  is  not  a 
foreign  built  road,  but  of  Chinese  construc- 
tion— a fact  profoundly  significant  of  what  the 
future  contains.  Here  was  “new”  China 
visibly  pictured  before  our  eyes.  Sometimes 
our  mules  had  to  pick  their  way  over  the  very 
railroad  ties,  and  again  on  one  side  or  the 
other  all  the  way  up  the  pass,  the  railroad 
having  reached  almost  the  summit.  When  at 
last  we  clambered  to  the  top  of  the  Wall  and 
looked  off  to  the  north  into  the  great  beyond, 
it  seemed  as  if  we  were  given  almost  a vision, 
not  only  of  the  things  that  are,  but  the  things 
that  are  to  be.  Who  can  set  a bound  to  the 
new  world,  slowly  at  first  but  now  with  amaz- 
ing rapidity,  shaping  itself  here  ? 


38 


A round  the  World  for  the  American  Bible  Society 


In  the  south  Shanghai  is  naturally  the  focus 
of  the  new  light;  but  Peking  is  the  official 
head  of  China  and  the  North  in  general,  and 
has  peculiar  relations  to  official  progress.  If 
we  had  followed  the  road  further,  we  should 
have  found  ourselves  presently  in  Mongolia, 
which  the  old  geographers  used  to  call  Chi- 
nese Tartary.  There  is  an  Inner  Mongolia 
and  an  Outer  Mongolia,  stretching  far  away  to 
the  north  and  west,  clear  to  the  boundaries 
of  the  Russian  Empire,  1,700  miles  from  east 
to  west,  1,000  miles  from  north  to  south,  with 
an  area  of  1,400,000  square  miles,  and  the 
population  estimated  at  anywhere  from  two  to 
ten  millions.  The  central  part  of  this  vast 
region  is  the  Gobi  desert,  lying  4,000  feet 
above  the  sea ; not  a torrid,  but  an  arctic 
desert.  Yet  the  other  parts  of  the  region  are 
livable  and  arable.  I counted  269  dromedary 
camels,  besides  other  pack  animals,  going  and 
coming  along  the  Kalgan  Road,  laden  with 
various  merchandise  (including  Standard  Oil 
cans).  As  we  approached  the  summit  of  the 
pass,  it  was  easy  to  notice  the  distinctive  type 
of  the  Mongol  as  distinguished  from  the  Chi- 
nese. Great  stalwart,  hardy  fellows  they 
were,  with  their  fur  caps  and  rough  coats 
suggestive  of  their  wintry  home ; some  of 
them  well  armed,  too,  to  protect  the  treasures 
of  the  caravan.  To  the  far  west  lies  Zungaria, 
to  the  north  of  the  Tienshan  Mountains,  the 
home  of  a tribe  of  western  Mongols,  who 
rose  to  great  power  two  hundred  years  ago, 
having,  it  is  said,  a million  armed  warriors. 
They  captured  and  sacked  L’hassa,  in  Tibet, 
and  were  not  overthrown  for  half  a century, 
when,  it  is  said,  the  Chinese  put  to  the  sword 
a million  persons,  men,  women  and  children. 
The  natural  route  for  a railway  from  Russia 
is  through  Zungaria,  and  thence  on  eastward 
through  Chinese  territory.  The  present 
population  of  the  country  too  does  not  in 
itself  afford  a true  index  of  its  probable  future. 
The  Chinese  are  swarming  out  beyond  the 
great  wall,  pushing  the  Mongols  before  them. 
The  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society  with 
commendable  zeal  has  pushed  its  colporteurs 
out  to  follow  them.  Since  I visited  the  great 
wall,  our  own  Mr.  Elliott  has  made  a journey 
into  Mongolia  beyond  Kalgan  (the  eastern 
terminus  of  the  caravan  route) , meeting  mis- 
sionaries of  the  American  Board  at  various 
points,  and  a few  colporteurs  of  the  British  and 
Scotch  Societies.  When  he  reached  the  first 
table-land  in  Mongolia,  he  was  entertained 
in  the  tents  of  Sa  Lung  Gult,  said  to  be  the  son 
of  the  former  Prince  of  that  region.  This  chief- 
tain, now  sixty-four  years  of  age,  learned 
something  of  Christian  truth  long  ago,  though 
he  is  not  a Christian.  As  he  and  Mr.  Elliott 
sat  talking  over  a Gospel  of  Matthew,  he  hap- 


pened to  catch  sight  of  a copy  of  the  Christian 
Herald  lying  on  his  cot.  This  he  eagerly 
caught  at ; and,  finding  a picture  of  an  auto- 
mobile in  it,  he  began  to  tell  of  the  five  auto- 
mobiles he  saw  flying  past  his  tent  door  a 
few  weeks  before  on  the  race  from  Peking  to 
Paris.  The  mail  now  brought  by  camels  to 
Peking  may,  it  is  said,  soon  be  carried  in 
automobiles.  In  his  trip  of  twenty  days,  Mr. 
Elliott  sold  1220  Scriptures  and  Scripture  Por- 
tions. This  is  enough  to  give  an  impression  of 
this  terra  incognita  and  its  possibilities,  not 
only  for  ordinary  commerce,  but  for  that  better 
commerce  — the  circulation  of  God’s  Holy 
Word.  It  is  true  indeed  that  the  Mongols  are 
illiterate  and  that  they  are  cursed  with  the 
most  degraded  form  of  Buddhism,  the  “Lama 
Buddhism”  of  Tibet,  but  the  railroad  is  sure 
to  open  up  their  country  in  many  ways  and 
we  must  be  ready  with  our  colporteurs.  Mr. 
Elliott  met  a Mongolian  Prince  en  route  to  his 
station  in  “Outer  Mongolia,”  who  had  been 
commanded  by  the  Throne  in  Peking  to 
establish  schools  for  Western  education  in  his 
distant  home.  Then  far  to  the  west  lies 
Tibet.  It  has  been  called  the  “ Forbidden 
Land,”  but  already  the  newspapers  report 
that  the  Dowager  Empress  has  declared  that 
a telegraph  line  shall  be  established  at 
L’hassa  and  a newsaper  published.  The 
world  has  followed  the  adventures  of  Colonel 
Younghusband  and  the  British  expedition 
which  he  led  to  L’hassa.  Crossing  the  Pacific 
I happened  to  meet  one  of  his  officers,  who 
had  marvelous  things  to  tell. 

Lying  to  the  northeast  of  the  great  wall  is 
Manchuria,  better  known  to  us  than  Mongolia. 
When  it  is  said  that  the  Dowager  Empress  is 
a Manchu,  we  must  recognize  that  a race  who 
can  produce  one  such  woman  is  not  a weak 
race. 

Dr.  Martin,  in  his  recent  book,  “ The 
Awakening  of  China,”  calls  her  the  typical 
Manchu  woman,  and  her  reign  the  most  bril- 
liant in  Chinese  history.  He  draws  a curious 
historical  parallel  between  the  Normans  of 
Great  Britain  and  the  Manchus  of  China, 
whom  he  judges,  on  the  whole,  to  have  given 
a better  government  to  China  than  any  Chi- 
nese dynasty.  The  Manchus  in  Manchuria 
remain,  as  he  says,  rude  and  ignorant,  but  in 
China  they  certainly  are  not  so ; and  even  in 
Manchuria,  they,  too,  feel  the  touch  of  the 
new  spirit. 

The  Japanese  war  has  taught  us  something 
about  Manchuria,  but  there  is  much  to  learn. 
It  has  a population  of  8,500,000,  and  its  cap- 
ital, Mukden,  200,000.  The  significant  thing 
now  worthy  of  our  attention  is  that,  as  in 
Mongolia  and  probably  even  more,  Chinese 
settlers  are  taking  possession  of  the  deserted 


North  China  and  New  China 


39 


districts.  Invited  by  a faction  in  China  to 
aid  them  against  their  rivals  three  centuries 
ago,  the  Manchus,  once  admitted,  now  rule 
China,  while  the  Chinese  themselves,  many 
of  them,  are  exchanging  their  own  homes  for 
homes  in  Manchuria.  Both  Roman  Catholic 
and  Protestant  missionaries  have  followed 
them. 

The  Scotch  Presbyterians  sent  the  Rev. 
John  Ross  there  in  1872.  There  is  now  a 
Presbytery  of  Manchuria  with  two  native 
pastors,  270  churches  and  chapels,  and  a 
communicant  membership  of  over  11,000,  and 
besides  these  other  missions  less  extensive. 

There  are  several  Mongolian  versions  of 
the  Scriptures,  the  history  of  which  is  full  of 
interest.  The  alphabet  of  the  Mongolian  lan- 
guage was  derived  from  the  Syriac,  and  it  is 
noticeable  that  the  Mongolians  have,  unlike 
their  Chinese  neighbors,  our  familiar  Arabic 
numerals.  The  Tibetan  and  the  Manchurian 
versions  all  have  a history,  and  a fascinating 
one,  if  there  were  time  to  relate  it  here.  The 
British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society  has  pub- 


Y. M.  C.  A.  are  busily  engaged  in  teaching 
Young  China  the  best  lessons  of  that  world- 
embracing organization.  We  went  from  mis- 
sion to  mission,  talking  with  the  brethren; 
one  of  them,  the  venerable  Dr.  Stanley,  a 
pioneer  and  now  a veteran  in  China.  They 
all  felt  what  great  things  are  happening  and 
were  likely  to  happen  in  such  a center  of 
power  as  this  city. 

There  are  some  amusing  instances  which 
show  how  recent,  yet  how  real,  is  the  taste  of 
new  learning  which  the  Chinese  are  so  eagerly 
enjoying.  In  Tien-tsin  the  Viceroy’s  band, 
not  long  before,  had  marched  down  the  street 
playing  on  Western  instruments 

“ Abide  with  me, 

Fast  falls  the  eventide  ” 

and 

“ God  be  with  us  till  we  meet  again.” 

This  infallibly  betrays  the  real  origin  of  many 
of  the  improvements.  It  is  doubtful  if  the 
Chinese  would  ever  have  learned  anything 
about  our  music  except  through  the  Christian 
Church.  They  are  likely  to  learn  not  only 
sacred  but  some  secular 


IN  THE  NANKOU  PASS 

lished  all  or  nearly  all  of  these  versions  and 
a good  beginning  has  been  made,  but  America 
as  well  as  Britain  must  do  her  share  in  evan- 
gelizing “ China  without  the  Wall.” 

Important  as  such  a program  may  be,  it 
would  be  impossible  of  execution  but  for  its 
connection  with  the  New  China  that  is  in  proc- 
ess of  formation,  within  as  well  as  without 
the  Wall.  We  began  to  see  and  hear  of  it 
at  Tien-tsin,  the  port  of  Peking,  a city  of 
1,000,000  people,  already  astir  with  new  life. 

The  streets  and  houses,  some  of  them,  were 
plainly  made  on  Western  models.  Mr.  Robert 
Gailey  and  his  associates  at  the  head  of  the 


music,  as  I realized  when 
I heard  Chinese  girls 
singing  English  songs  in 
chorus,  and  doing  it  well. 
About  the  time  we  were 
in  Tien-tsin,  the  city 
adopted  and  has  put  into 
actual  operation  a Western 
form  of  city  government — 
mayor,  board  of  aldermen 
and  all  the  rest — locally 
adapted,  of  course,  and,  we 
may  trust,  free  from  some 
features  sadly  familiar  in 
some  American  cities.  It 
has  now  been  extended  to 
a larger  area.  This  is 
likely  to  supply  a model 
for  other  cities  and  larger 
districts.  On  returning 
from  the  Wall,  I had  the 
pleasure  of  being  enter- 
tained by  Dr.  Morrison,  the  famous  corre- 
spondent of  the  London  Times,  who  told  me 
that  he  could  name  probably  a hundred  Chi- 
nese cities  which  had  installed  a modern  po- 
lice system.  This  in  itself  is  a great  step  in 
advance.  We  saw  these  policemen  in  Peking, 
uniformed  and  drilled  into  fair  shape,  and 
some  other  things  besides,  both  in  Peking  and 
Tien-tsin,  which  afforded  ocular  demonstra- 
tion that  the  Boxer  uprising  and  all  that  ac- 
companied it  was  the  beginning  of  a new 
chapter  in  Chinese  history,  and  that  means  a 
new  chapter  in  the  annals  of  mankind.  It 
will  not  do,  of  course,  to  assume  that  there 


40 


A round  the  World  for  the  American  Bible  Society 


will  be  no  let  or  hindrance — all  such  move- 
ments suffer  reverses,  and  it  would  be  strange 
if  this  did  not.  Already  there  are  signs  of 
disaffection  and  reaction,  especially  in  the 
south,  where  revolt  against  the  Manchu  dy- 
nasty may  break  out  at  any  time.  We  must  be 
prepared  for  unwelcome  surprises,  and  cannot 
expect  that  the  New  China  is  to  be  built  in  a 
day  any  more  than  Old  Rome  was ; yet  the 
signs  of  the  times  surely  indicate  that  after  all 
setbacks,  China  must  move  forward  as  Japan 
has  done.  Dr.  Morrison  has  since  said  in  a 
public  address  (Nov.  5)  that,  “Sporadic  dis- 
turbances might  occur  in  the  empire,  but 
nothing  could  now  stay  the  progress  of  the 
people.  That  progress  within  the  last  five 
years  was  one  of  the  most  surprising  and 
agreeable  phenomena  of  recent  history.”  He 
calls  attention  to  the  200  newspapers  now 
published  and  the  420  Chinese  students  at  the 
great  colleges  of  America.  It  would  be  inter- 
esting to  recite  the  imperial  decrees,  not  one 
or  two,  but  the  many  which  are  now  issuing 
from  Peking,  commanding,  exhorting,  even 
threatening  under  severe  penalties,  with  the 
one  general  end  clearly  in  view,  the  establish- 
ment of  Western  methods  of  government  and 
Western  forms  of  science  and  learning  for  all 
China.  Paper  reforms,  of  course,  are  not  real 
reforms,  but  the  reality  is  already  visible. 

In  Tien-tsin,  for  instance,  there  is  a gov- 
ernment training-school,  of  industrial  educa- 
tion, handsomely  housed  in  a well-equipped 
building,  and  more  recently  a girls’  school 
established  under  government  supervision. 
Everywhere  the  schoolmaster  is  abroad  in  the 
land,  or  is  commanded  to  be.  The  difficulty 
is  that,  even  with  teachers  imported  from 
Japan  by  the  hundreds,  and  with  thousands  of 
Chinese  students  learning  how  to  teach  in 
Japan,  and  with  the  outp.ut  of  teachers  from 
the  mission  schools,  there  is  a shortage  of 
teachers  which  must  continue  for  a long 
while. 

Mr.  Elliott  reports  that  he  made  a careful 
investigation  of  the  bookstores  inPaoting-Fu 
to  ascertain  what  books  were  now  published 
in  Chinese  containing  in  general  the  branches 
of  knowledge  hitherto  unknown  in  China. 
He  found  over  ninety  different  treatises  on 
such  subjects  as  military  science,  law,  the 
science  of  government,  and  a wide  variety  of 
topics  ranging  from  the  kindergarten  to  as- 
tronomy and  international  law — the  largest 
number  significally  on  military  science,  and 


the  next  largest  on  law  and  the  science  of 
government.  This  whole  literature  has  come 
into  being  since  the  “Boxer  Year”  and 
largely  through  the  instigation  of  the  great 
Viceroy  \uan  Shi  Kai,  who  is  now  virtually, 
for  the  time  being,  the  “ Prime  Minister”  of 
China.  To  this  may  be  added  the  statement 
that  a publishing  firm  in  China,  in  a single 
year,  issued  a million  copies  of  text-books  and 
other  literature  embodying  similar  material. 

These  criteria  indicate  the  amazing  forces 
at  work  creating  the  New  China.  One  of  the 
things  which  Mr.  Elliott  discovered  we  must 
recognize  with  deep  thankfulnes  to  God  and  a 
keener  sense  of  responsibility  as  Christians 
and  especially  as  servants  and  friends  of  the 
Bible'Society.  In  the  treatises  on  law  there  was 
frequent  reference  made  to  the  giving  of  the 
moral  law  by  Moses  on  Mt.  Sinai.  What  a 
fine  proof  is  this  of  the  way  in  which  God  has 
mortised  into  the  fabric  of  human  history 
the  fundamental  verities  of  divine  revelation  ! 
Doubtless  the  missionaries  are  here  also  to 
be  credited  with  what  the  new  Chinese  writers 
on  law  are  now  teaching  their  pupils.  But  it 
would  seem  also  that  the  traditional  convic- 
tion that  underlies  the  whole  body  of  European 
law  as  to  the  divine  legation  of  Moses,  has 
found  its  way  into  the  Chinese  mind  through 
Western  law  books.  We  can  but  hope  that 
this  sane  and  wholesome  conviction  that  the 
law  was  given  by  Moses  may  remain  un- 
disturbed in  the  Chinese  mind.  It  will  be 
much  easier  thus  to  persuade  China  of  its 
antithesis  that  grace  and  truth  came  by  Jesus 
Christ. 

The  Christian  Church  surely  cannot  pause 
or  hesitate  in  completing  what  she  has  begun 
through  the  Bible  Societies  of  Christendom. 
She  must  put  into  the  hands  of  these  new 
pupils  in  the  School  of  Christ  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures, in  the  best  translations  and  in  the 
cheapest  form ; so  that  every  man,  according 
to  the  old  phrase  made  new  in  the  light  of 
these  later  day  miracles,  may  hear  in  his  own 
tongue  the  wonderful  works  of  God. 

Mr.  Elliott  has  had  thirty  colporteurs  at 
work  in  North  China.  He  could  use,  he  says, 
one  hundred.  Who  will  help  us  to  provide 
them  ? and  who  will  give  us  what  we  sorely 
need,  a new  Bible  House  in  Peking  ? that  we 
may,  in  this  New  Year  of  grace,  the  more 
speedily 

“ Ring  in  the  Christ  that  is  to  be.” 

January,  1908. 


A Glimpse  of  Korea 


41 


XI.  A Glimpse  of  Korea 


KOREA,  though  no  longer  the  Hermit 
Nation,  is  not  very  easy  of  access  even 
yet.  I had  planned  to  go  from  Peking,  via 
Dalney  and  Port  Arthur,  entering  Korea  thus 
from  the  north  and  going  through  the  penin- 
sula to  Fusan  at  the  extreme  south.  After 
laborious  inquiries,  begun  weeks  before,  there 
seemed  no  sure  prospect  of  anything  except 
delay  and  discomfort.  It  was  possible  to 
cross  the  Yellow  Sea  from  Chefoo  or  Tien- 
tsin to  Chemulpo, 
the  port  of  Seoul,  but 
this,  too,  was  very 
uncertain.  So  finally 
I hastened  back  from 
Peking,  via  Hankow, 
to  Shanghai  (1300  or 
1400  miles),  caught 
a Japanese  steamer, 
the  Yamashiro  Maru, 
to  Nagasaki,  crossed 
the  western  end  of 
Japan  to  Moji  in  ten 
or  twelve  hours  by 
rail,  and  embarked 
on  another  Japanese 
steamer,  the  Iki 
Maru , for  Fusan. 

-A  companion  du 
voyage , who  balanced 
these  alternatives 
with  me  in  Peking, 
concluded  to  try  the 
northern  route.  We 
started  the  same  day. 

He  was  laid  up  six 
days  in  Port  Arthur 
waiting  for  a steamer, 
so  that  I reached 
Seoul,  after  my  long 
journey,  a day  or  two 
ahead  of  him. 

On  the  Iki  Maru 
I found  a fellow- 
traveler,  the  Rev. 

Dr.  Moore,  president  of  the  mission  of  the 
German  Reformed  Church  in  Japan,  who, 
after  a quarter  of  a century  in  the  island 
empire,  was  making  his  first  trip  to  Korea. 

Ta-Cho-sen — “the  Great  Land  of  Morning 
Calm” — is  the  ancient  and  poetic  name  of 
Korea,  but  by  the  irony  of  fate,  we  landed 
at  Fusan  in  a veritable  tempest  of  wind  and 
rain,  and  spent  a soppy  morning  in  a half- 
finished  railway  station  crowded  with  Japa- 
nese. Fusan  is  a picturesque  port,  suggestive 
of  the  best  scenery  on  the  Maine  coast. 


After  a hasty  but  hearty  handshake  with 
Dr.  Irwin  of  the  Presbyterian  Mission,  we 
found  ourselves  gliding  along  on  a railroad 
that  seemed  strangely  familiar,  for  the  rails, 
the  cars,  and  the  locomotive  were  all  Ameri- 
can, though  the  management  was  Japanese. 
All  day  long  we  gazed  on  dripping  skies, 
now  clearing  a little  and  then  settling  down 
to  rain  again.  Great  black  mountains,  with 
occasional  patches  of  farm  land  and  thatched 

villages,  picturesque 
beyond  description, 
and  here  and  there 
larger  towns,  kept 
our  eyes  ever  gazing. 
Here  was  another 
chapter  of  the  Ori- 
ent, as  quaint  or 
more  quaint,  than 
China  or  Siam.  What 
a land  of  strange,  far- 
off,  unique  sugges- 
tions is  this  blood- 
stained Korea — the 
bridge  between  China 
and  Japan  ! 

Between  showers 
we  ventured  off,  when 
the  train  stopped  at 
a station,  and  looked 
with  wonder  and 
amusement  at  the 
curious  native  cos- 
tumes. Not,  indeed, 
that  everyone  is 
dressed  alike — the 
coolies,  and  ’ricksha 
men,  and  the  poorer 
sort  generally,  were 
clothed  simply 
enough;  but  the 
chief  impression  was 
of  men  in  long  white 
coats,  reaching  well 
below  the  knees,  tied 
tightly  across  the  chest,  and  of  the  round- 
brimmed,  stiff  black  hats  tied  under  the 
chin  with  black  strings,  like  an  old  lady’s 
bonnet.  This  certainly  gives  a Korean 
gentleman  a curious  appearance,  especially 
when  he  wears  huge  stone  spectacles.  The 
next  day  we  saw  these  costumes  in  their 
full  force  in  the  churches,  and  there  they 
seemed  strangely  in  place,  giving  the  men  an 
ecclesiastical  aspect.  An  audience,  all  men, 
wearing  as  they  did  these  hats  all  through 
the  service,  and  dressed  thus  in  pure  white, 


Courtesy  Doubleday , Paijc  «fc  Co. 

A WOMAN  IN  CORRECT  STREET  COSTUME 
From  “The  Passing  of  Korea" 


42 


Around  the  World  for  the  American  Bible  Society 


is  a sight  to  see.  The  women’s  coats  (as 
shown  in  the  picture)  are  usually  a vivid 
green ; the  children  often  wear  pink  and  azure. 


Night  came  on  and  our  train  still  dragged 
along,  reaching  Seoul  at  midnight.  I have 
rarely  arrived  at  a station  in  the  East  or 
gone  to  one,  no  matter  how  late  or  how 
early,  how  hot  or  how  wet  the  weather,  with- 
out a missionary  to  welcome  the  coming  or 
speed  the  parting  guest,  and  Mr.  Reynolds, 
of  the  South  Church,  was  at  the  Seoul  station 
waiting  to  tramp  with  me  (for  it  was  too  late 
for  anything  else)  to  the  house  of  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Bunker,  of  the  American  Methodist  Mis- 
sion. Here  I was  hospitably  entertained 
during  most  of  my  stay  in  Seoul,  passing 
only  the  last  night  with  the  Rev.  Mr.  Hall, 
of  the  Presbyterian  Mission.  On  Sunday 
morning  it  was  a stirring  experience  to  sit 
in  the  Methodist  church  and  hear  a heart- 
searching sermon  by  the  venerable  Bishop 
Foss,  which  had  manifest  power  with  the 
audience  of  something  like  one  thousand  or 
twelve  hundred  men  and  women,  separated, 
according  to  the  Korean  custom,  by  a cur- 
tain from  each  other.  Fifteen  Korean  men 
arose  to  say  that  they  had  begun  to  follow 
Christ. 

In  the  afternoon  I preached,  through  an 
interpreter,  first  at  the  Presbyterian  Mission, 
then  in  English  to  all  the  missionaries,  and 
briefly  in  the  evening  to  yet  another  Korean 
congregation.  It  will  be  impossible  to  recite 
in  particular  the  thronging  engagements  and 
meetings  which  followed  during  the  next 
week  in  Seoul,  Pyeng  Yang,  and  Fusan. 
They  carried  me  from  school  to  school, 
church  to  church,  and  mission  to  mission, 
until  I had  no  strength  left.  Who  could 


help  preaching  in  Korea?  The  Koreans 
love  to  preach  and  love  to  be  preached  to. 
One  of  them,  as  I was  informed  by  his  mis- 
sionary superintendent, 
preached  for  six  hours  to 
willing  listeners. 

My  special  business  in 
Korea  was,  however,  not 
preaching  or  visiting 
missionaries,  but  to  attend 
the  regular  meeting  of 
the  “Bible  Committee  of 
Korea,”  composed  of  the 
representatives  of  the 
various  denominations. 
This  important  organiza- 
tion has  at  present 
executive  oversight  and 
direction  of  the  transla- 
tion of  the  Scriptures, 
which  is  not  yet  com- 
pleted, and  also  of  their 
publishing  and  circula- 
tion. Through  this  com- 
mittee the  three  Bible 
Societies  do  their  work.  This  session  of  the 
committee  was  held  at  the  Bible  House  and 
lasted  nine  hours,  dealing  with  the  problems 
affecting  the  three  Bible  Societies — British, 
Scottish,  and  American.  They  are  jointly 
and  efficiently  represented  by  Mr.  Hugh 
Miller  as  their  Agent,  and  through  him  they 
are  all  kept  in  constant  touch  with  the  mis- 
sionary body.  (Since  this  letter  was  written 
he  has  presented  our  best  edition  of  the  New 
Testament  to  each  of  the  seven  ministers 
whose  pictures  are  here  reproduced.) 

Korea  is  not  only  unique  in  history,  and 
tradition,  and  political  relationship,  but  in  the 
extraordinary  successes  of  Protestant  Chris- 
tianity. Dr.  William  Elliott  Griffis  has  told  the 
tale,  an  almost  incredible  one,  of  the  struggle 
of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  to  establish  it- 
self in  Korea,  beginning  in  1791.  Protestant 
missions  were  begun  twenty-five  years  ago, 
but  they  were  anticipated  fifty  years  before 
that  by  Charles  Gutzlaff,  who  dared  to  land 
on  an  island  near  the  mainland  for  a short 
season.  There  were  others  ready  to  cross 
the  border  from  Manchuria  when  the  way 
was  opened.  The  Methodists  led  the  van 
in  1883;  the  Presbyterians  (1884)  were  very 
little  behind.  Bishop  Foss,  sitting  with  me 
in  the  pulpit  at  Seoul,  told  me  the  story  of 
the  first  baptism  which,  perforce,  must  needs 
be  done  in  secret  twenty-one  years  before. 
Now  the  church  membership  is  counted  by 
tens  of  thousands.  One  mission  officially 
estimates  the  conversions  this  year  at  30,000, 
in  all  denominations,  and  it  may  be  larger. 

The  relation  of  the  Bible  work  to  this 


A Glimpse  of  Korea 


43 


progress  is  unmistakable.  It  is  a chief  factor 
in  bringing  it  about,  and  at  the  same  time 
such  progress  necessitates  extraordinary  effort 
and  expenditure.  In  Bible  work  there  are 
difficulties  of  adjustment  here  which  cannot 
be  touched  on,  nor  can  I enter  upon  the  new 
and  interesting  chapter  in  the  history  of 
Bible  translation  which  the  Korean  version 
affords.  The  missionaries  have  been  labor- 
ing to  complete  and  perfect  their  transla- 
tions, and  the  three  Bible  Societies  are 
conjoined  to  aid  them.  The  great  majority 
of  them  are  Americans,  and  so,  of  course, 
the  American  Bible  Society  may  feel  at 
home. 

The  feature  of  the  situation,  at  present  of 
burning  interest,  is  the  extraordinary  mani- 
festation of  spiritual  power  in  many  places, 
especially  in  Pyeng  Yang, 
once  the  northern  capital 
of  Korea.  It  was  my 
privilege  to  make  a fly- 
ing journey  to  this  town, 
famous  in  the  history  of 
the  wars  of  Korea — more 
than  famous  in  the  history 
of  the  wars  of  the  Lord 
now  being  waged.  I ar- 
rived on  a Wednesday 
evening,  at  about  seven 
o’clock,  and  found  my 
way  to  the  church,  where 
Western  custom  has 
brought  them  the  mid- 
week prayer  meeting. 

When  I got  to  the  Presby- 
terian church,  a mile  or 
two  from  the  station,  I 
found  a meeting  of  a 
thousand  or  twelve  hun- 
dred persons  just  begin- 
ning. The  Rev.  Mr.  Hunt 
at  once  announced  that  I 
would  speak  to  the  audi- 
ence, as  I did  through  an  interpreter,  an- 
nouncing again,  with  my  consent,  that  I 
would  speak  twice  the  next  day. 

In  the  blaze  of  an  afternoon  sun,  it  was  a 
goodly  sight  to  behold  five  hundred  women 
and  children  throng  into  the  church  on  Thurs- 
day afternoon,  many  of  them  having  their 
Bibles  fastened  in  the  front  of  their  dresses, 
and  all  of  them  eager  to  hear,  as  I spoke  to 
them  through  the  interpreting  of  Mrs.  Baird 
of  the  Presbyterian  Mission.  At  night  a 
thousand  men  sat  on  their  mats  on  the  floor 
— there  are  no  pews  or  chairs  in  a Korean 
church — and  listened  eagerly  again  to  the 
message,  Dr.  Baird  interpreting  this  time. 

The  missionaries  told  me  the  wonderful 
story  of  meetings  lasting  until  midnight  and 


later,  when  the  Spirit  came  to  Pyeng  Yang, 
and  when  missionary  and  convert,  gentle  and 
simple,  all  classes  and  conditions,  were  broken 
with  unwonted  and  overpowering  conviction 
of  sin  and  a deep  and  tender  penitence  that 
has  made  the  present  year  an  annus  mirabilis 
in  the  history  of  Christianity  in  Korea. 

I returned  next  day  two  hundred  miles  to 
Seoul.  I cannot  stop  to  tell  of  its  streets 
filled  with  a throng  of  the  white-robed  and 
black-hatted,  and,  yet  more  astonishing,  the 
three-bushel-basket-hatted ; and  the  women 
in  their  gay  green  coats;  the  soldiers,  Japa- 
nese and  Korean;  the  palace  guarded  in  front 
by  gigantic  stone  fire-dogs,  with  its  lovely 
gardens,  its  lotus  pond,  and  alas  ! its  grewsome 
memories  of  the  queen  murdered  in  her  own 
palace  at  night,  and  the  frightened  king  fleeing 


to  the  foreign  consulate  for  protection,  only 
twelve  years  ago.  Mr.  Ritson,  of  the  British 
and  Foreign  Bible  Society,  and  I agreed  that 
we  had  seen  no  city  more  picturesque  than 
Seoul,  with  its  girdle  of  jagged  mountains  in 
the  near  distance. 

I found  time  to  spend  an  evening  with 
Mr.  Miller,  going  over  accounts  in  the  Bible 
House,  and  then  flew  back  to  Fusan  for  Sun- 
daypreaching and  speaking,  as  much  as  I had 
time  and  strength  for,  until  at  last  the  Iki Marti 
again  carried  me  to  Moji,  and  we  boarded, 
with  much  difficulty,  yet  another  Japanese 
steamer,  the  Suniki  Maru,  bound  from  Yoko- 
hama for  Europe,  which  set  me  down  at  Shang- 
hai after  just  two  weeks’  absence  and  just  in 
time  for  the  Shanghai  Conference. 


THE  CRVPTOMERIA  AVENUE,  NIKKO 


XII.  Three  Weeks  in  Japan 


’TJ  OUND-THE-WORLD  travelers  should 
JLV  visit  Japan  last  and  not  first,  if  they  lay 
much  stress  on  aesthetic  pleasure.  Other 
countries  would  make  an  anti-climax  after  the 
unique  beauty  and  charm  of  “ The  Land  of  the 
Rising  Sun.” 

Dr.  Johnson’s  exclamation — “ See  the  Medi- 
terranean and  die” — is  all  very  well,  but  let 
no  one  die  if  he  can  help  it  before  he  has 
seen  the  Inland  Sea,  for  the  Mediterranean 
from  the  Riviera  coast  can  hardly  match  it. 
The  impression  is  apt  to  obtain  of  a certain 
mere  prettiness,  not  to  say  pettiness,  as  char- 
acteristic of  Japan.  It  is  quite  contrary  to  the 
fact.  The  Japanese,  to  be  sure,  know  well 
how  to  handle  delicate  things  and  themes. 
They  have  a genius  for  whatever  is  dainty. 
Their  exquisite  politeness  is  a lesson  to  the 
world,  and  their  love  of  children  also.  Their 
household  art  and  decoration  is  distinguished 
by  an  incomparable  simplicity.  One  feels 
himself  in  contact  with  a people  gifted  with 
rare  delicacy  of  taste.  They  have  an  inborn 
love  for  flowers  and  an  intuitive  feeling  of 
their  harmonies.  The  finer  shadings  and  col- 
orings constantly  astonish  and  charm ; but 


this  is  not  all.  Some  of  their  temples  have  a 
stately,  solemn  dignity  which  quite  relieves 
any  impression  of  pettiness.  The  scenery  both 
on  the  coast  and  inland  is  more  than  pretty. 
Snow-crowned  Fujiyama,  rising  12,500  feet 
from  sheer  sea  level,  gives  character  and 
dignity — or  shall  we  say  grandeur — to  Japan, 
and  Nikko  is  indescribably  beautiful. 

The  Japanese  have  a saying:  “One  must 
never  say  “ kekko  ” (“beautiful”)  until  he 
has  seen  Nikko  ; and,  we  may  add,  when  he 
has  seen  it  he  will  feel  the  poverty  of  language 
as  never  before.  It  is  the  name  both  of  a 
town  and  of  the  region  about  it — a great 
mountain  mass  not  unlike  the  Adirondacks  in 
general,  but  with  peaks  nearly  twice  as  high 
and  covered  with  a wealth  of  verdure,  almost 
tropical,  when  we  were  there  in  May.  Its 
charm  centers  about  the  solemn  beauty  of  the 
shrine  of  Iyeyasu,  one  of  the  greatest  of  the 
Shogun  rulers,  who  is  buried  there,  and 
the  nearby  shrine  of  his  scarcely  less  famous 
grandson,  Iyemitsu,  also  a Shogun.  These 
shrines,  especially  that  of  Iyeyasu,  are  sur- 
rounded by  a group  of  noble  buildings  set  in 
a forest  of  magnificent  cryptomeria  trees — 


Three  Weeks  in  Japan 


45 


giants  of  the  forest,  rating  only  second  to  our 
California  monsters — the  avenue  approaching 
the  shrines  bordered  on  either  side  by  these 
glorious  trees  for  twenty-five  miles — a mar- 
velous spectacle  truly. 

All  this  may  seem  at  first  remote  from 
Bible  work  or  missions,  but  in  reality  it  has  a 
bearing  on  our  special  task.  The  missionary 
or  the  colporteur  in  any  country  must  take 
account  of  the  people  and  their  environments 
and  adapt  himself  to  them  if  he  can. 

He  who  would  minister  in  spiritual  things  to 
a people  so  sensitive  to  outward  beauty  and 
propriety,  must  approach  his  task  with  some- 
what of  sympathy  and  refinement  of  feeling. 

They  are  sometimes  called  the  French  of 
the  Orient,  and  it  is  natural  to  compare  them 
with  the  Greeks,  for  art  and  the  beautiful 
are  national  ideals,  and  one  feels  that  kaXoq 
kayxQoq  would  easily  translate  into  Japanese 
— perhaps  “ Bushido  ” is  not  far  from  an 
equivalent.  But  behind  the  mask  of  beauty, 
the  religions  of  Japan,  whatever  aspects  of 
truth  they  contain,  are  after  all  a gilded  and 
adorned  idolatry,  powerless  to  save  Japan 
from  its  sins.  The  simplicity  of  Christ  and 


ENTRANCE  TO  THE  KASUGA  (SHINTO)  SHRINE,  NAEA 


the  beauty  of  holiness  must  supplant  even  the 
best  in  Buddhism,  Shintoism,  and  Confucian- 
ism. There  is  but  one  Christ  and  one  Bible. 

It  was  a pleasure  to  find  so  many  mission- 
aries, men  and  women,  reaching  a high  stand- 
ard of  intellectual  qualification.  We  began  to 
meet  them  indeed  in  China  and  Korea,  where 
some  of  them  had  come — Dr.  J.  P.  Moore  of 
the  German  (American)  Reformed  Board,  Dr. 
Deering  of  the  Baptist  Board,  and  Dr.  D.  C. 
Green  of  the  Congregational  Board.  Our  own 
Agent,  Dr.  Loomis,  is  known  and  loved  far 
and  wide  as  a veteran  among  missionaries. 
His  enthusiasm  for  Japan  and  the  Japanese 
is  boundless,  and  his  home  in  Yokohama  a 
recognized  center  of  evangelic  power.  It  was 
a great  joy  and  advantage  to  me  to  have 
his  companionship  during  almost  my  whole 
stay. 

The  only  ecclesiastical  body  that  it  was 
possible  to  attend,  and  that  but  briefly,  was 
the  Methodist  Conference,  which  was- in  ses- 
sion at  Tokyo.  Here  Methodism  was  putting 
its  best  foot  foremost.  The  meeting  was  the 
first  one  pursuant  to  a new  arrangement  by 
which  all  Methodist  churches  in  Japan  are 
united  in  one  body. 

Without  attempting  to  describe  too  mi- 
nutely the  twenty-one  days  spent  in  Japan,  let 
me  give  briefly  our  itinerary.  We  landed  in 
Nagasaki  on  May  9th  and  spent  a day  with 
the  Dutch  Reformed  missionaries  there — the 
Rev.  Mr.  Pieters  especially  and  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Peeke,  the  latter  having  come  sixty  miles  to 
meet  me.  Re-embarking  on  the  Doric , we 
passed  on  to  Kobe,  where  we  visited  briefly 
the  Congregational  and  Southern  Presbyterian 
missionaries,  and  called  on  Mr.  Parrott,  the 
Agent  of  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  So- 
ciety, who  hospitably  entertained  us  as  we  dis- 
cussed our  mutual  affairs ; then  on  to  Kyoto, 
the  ancient  capital  of  Japan,  full  of  the  sugges- 
tions of  the  past,  taking  half  a day  for  a glimpse 
of  Nara,  a still  more  ancient  capital  and,  if 
possible,  still  more  magically  beautiful. 

From  Kyoto  an  express  train  carried  us  in  a 
day’s  ride  on  to  Yokohama  and  Tokyo,  where 
the  rest  of  our  time  was  spent,  which  included 
visits  to  Nikko  and  one  or  two  mountain 
places  in  the  neighborhood.  In  Yokohama 
and  Tokyo  we  found  the  best  opportunities  for 
conference  on  Bible  matters  and  other  things 
related  thereto,  not  only  with  such  mission- 
aries as  Dr.  Imbrie,  of  the  Church  of  Christ 
in  Japan  (which  represents  the  Presbyterian 
and  Reformed  family  of  churches) , but  with 
one  of  the  leaders  of  the  Japanese  church,  Dr. 
Ebuka,  President  of  the  Meiji  Gakuin  (Col- 
lege), where  I had  the  pleasure  of  addressing  a 
splendid  college  audience  and  also  the  gradu- 
ating class  of  the  theological  school. 


Around  the  World  Jor  the  American  Bible  Society 


4o 


There  have  been  for  some  years  past  some 
proposals  made  looking  to  the  revision  of  the 
Japanese  Scriptures,  and  one  of  the  main 
purposes  which  took  me  to  Japan  was  the 
necessity  for  making  some  inquiry  as  to  this. 

It  was  interesting  to  learn  from  first-hand 
sources  of  information  of  the  curious  process 
of  change  going  on  in  the  Japanese  language, 
which,  so  far  as  I could  understand,  might  be 
described  as  a partial  Occidentalizing  of  its 
idioms.  The  old  elaborations  of  formal  speech 
seem  destined  to  yield  in  a measure  to  the 
terser  forms  of  our  Western  tongues. 

The  English  Bible  might  be  called  a popular 
book.  It  is  surprising  to  find  how  much  it  is 
used,  especially  the  American  Revised  Ver- 
sion. No  doubt  the  Japanese  cannot  know 
the  relative  value  of  “ King  James  ” and  the 
“ Revised,”  but  they  like  whatever  is  latest, 
as  likeliest  to  be  best. 

On  the  first  Sunday  that  I spent  in  Japan, 
the  first  religious  service  which  I attended 
was  a Bible  class  in  Kyoto,  taught  admirably 
by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Gorbold,  of  the  Presbyterian 
Mission.  His  scholars  were  mainly  Chris- 
tians, but  there  were  some  Buddhists,  and 
their  text-book  was  the  English  Bible.  Their 
faces  lighted  up  with  keen  interest  when  it 
was  explained  to  them  that  I represented  the 
Society  which  published  the  Bible,  and  they 
crowded  around  to  shake  my  hand. 

It  so  happened  that  while  we  tarried  at 
Kyoto,  the  time  came  for  a famous  festival, 
held  in  connection  with  the  ancient  Shinto 
temple,  Shimo-Gamo,  one  of  the  twenty-two 
chief  temples  of  the  empire  founded,  it  is 
said,  in  the  seventh  century,  or  even  earlier. 
It  stands  in  a grove  of  ancient  maples,  crypto- 
merias,  and  evergreen  oaks.  On  this  day  of 
the  “Aoi,”  or  Hollyhock,  festival,  an  imposing 
and  picturesque  procession  marched  into  and 
through  the  grove  and  up  to  the  temple, 
where  certain  religious  rites  were  performed. 
An  immense  multitude,  perhaps  twenty  thou- 
sand or  thirty  thousand  people,  were  gathered 
together  as  spectators.  It  was  a picturesque 
and  imposing  pageant,  for  those  who  marched 
in  solemn  parade  up  to  the  temple  were  clothed 
in  the  ancient  costumes  of  Japan.  The  Dai- 
mios  and  their  retainers  seemed  to  live  again. 
Gorgeously  attired  in  brilliant  silks  and  armed 
with  antique  weaponry,  they  swept  past,  a 
representative  of  Mikado,  mounted  on  a 
horse  gaily  caparisoned,  giving  imperial 
dignity  to  the  cavalcade. 

Here  was  an  opportunity  for  good  colpor- 
tage,  so  Mr.  Gorbold  thought,  and  early  in  the 
morning  we  took  our  stand  by  the  roadside 
near  the  temple.  Sheltered  by  the  overhang- 
ing branches,  we  swung  our  sign  boldly  out, 
— “Jesus  Christ’s  Book,”  inscribed  in  large 


letters  on  a white  banner  hanging  from  a bam- 
boo pole,  with  specimens  of  the  book  for  sale 
attached  to  its  corners  by  cords.  Mr.  Gorbold 


PROCESSION  AT  THE  AOI  (HOLLYHOCK)  FESTIVAL, 
KYOTO 


assigned  to  me  the  task  of  offering  to  every 
passerby  a little  tract  in  Japanese,  explaining 
briefly  the  contents  of  the  book ; and  I had  the 
great  pleasure  of  placing  about  two  thousand 
of  these  tracts  in  the  hands  of  as  many  per- 
sons, men,  women,  and  children  of  all  classes 
and  conditions.  It  was  a wonderful  exhibi- 
tion of  the  unfailing  politeness  of  a Japanese 
crowd.  Though  there  was  the  greatest  eager- 
ness, especially  on  the  part  of  the  children, 
to  get  what  was  offered,  there  was  never  the 
slightest  approach  to  incivility  of  any  kind,  as 
we  distributed  the  tracts,  sold  the  Testaments 
and  Gospels,  150  or  so — sometimes  whole 
Bibles.  Probably  in  no  way  could  a stranger 
get  so  vivid  an  impression  of  the  Japanese  as 
a people  in  the  same  length  of  time. 

In  the  afternoon  we  moved  two  miles  up 
the  river  bank  to  another  temple,  where  the 
procession  wended  its  way.  Here  our  sales 
were  not  so  large,  as  our  stand  was  not  so 
good  a one  for  business,  but  when  the  crowd 
slackened  Mr.  Gorbold  played  “ Marching 
through  Georgia,”  on  his  cornet,  and  drew 
them  flocking  to  us  until  the  day  was  far 
spent.  My  last  glimpse  of  the  festival  was 


Three  Weeks  in  Japan 


47 


a little  company  of  Japanese  women  in  their 
picturesque  dresses  seated  on  the  river  bank 
reading  the  books  they  had  gathered  from 
us.  This  will  give  a suggestion  of  the  pos- 
sibilities of  Bible  work  in  Japan. 

After  this  it  seems  strange  to  have  to  say 
thatcolportage  is  not  as  easy  here  as  in  some 
countries.  There  is  a certain  national  preju- 
dice to  sales  in  the  streets  ordinarily,  so  Mr. 
Loomis  reports.  He  has  depended  largely 
on  other  modes  of  distribution.  These  have 
proven  very  successful,  as  will  be  seen  from 
the  figures — the  circulation  in  the  year  1906 
being  120,455  volumes,  on  an  appropriation 
of  about  $5,000.  During  the  whole  period 
from  1876,  1,870,289  volumes  have  been  dis- 
tributed. 

The  country  is  divided  between  the  three 
Societies,  the  British  and 
Foreign  and  the  Scotch 
taking  the  southern  half, 
and  our  own  Society  the 
northern  portion  of  the 
country,  according  to  an 
agreement  since  1904. 

I found  our  headquar- 
ters in  Yokohama  well 
chosen,  on  the  principal 
business  street,  one  of 
the  best  and  best-situated 
Bible  houses  that  I had 
seen  in  the  East.  It  con- 
sists of  salesroom  and 
office,  where  Mr.  Loomis, 
with  four  Japanese  assist- 
ants, maintains  an  efficient 
oversight  of  the  distribu- 
tion throughout  our  as- 
signed territory.  Mr. 

Loomis  finished  his  thirty- 
five  years  of  residence  in  Japan  and  his 
twentieth  year  of  service  to  the  Society  while 
I was  in  Japan,  and  it  was  easy  to  see  the 
high  esteem  in  which  he  is  universally  held 
and  honored  in  Yokohama  especially,  but  in 
general  throughout  the  country  wherever  the 
missionaries  are  at  work. 

I saw  nothing  that  pleased  me  more  or 
promised  better  things  than  the  printing  es- 
tablishment of  the  Fukuin  Insatsu  Goshi 
Kaisha  (Gospel  Printing  Company,  Limited) 
in  Yokohama.  For  many  years  all  our  Bibles 
have  been  published  there — not  only  our  Jap- 
anese Bibles,  but  now  many  Chinese,  Korean, 
and  Philippine  Scriptures  as  well.  There  are 
two  manufactories,  the  larger  in  Yokohama. 
Three  of  the  four  directors  are  earnest  Chris- 
tians, who  inaugurated  the  business  with  a 
religious  service.  Now,  every  Monday  morn- 
ing the  employees  gather  in  an  upper  room 
to  acknowledge  God  and  again  invoke  his 


blessing  on  their  daily  toil.  Mr.  Loomis  is 
often  present,  and  it  was  my  great  privilege 
to  go  with  him  and  take  some  minor  part  in 
the  service,  which  was  conducted  by  one  of 
the  Japanese  ministers  with  simplicity,  dig- 
nity, and  devoutness. 

It  is  said  that  the  Japanese  character  is 
weak  on  the  commercial  side — that  though 
heroic  in  war,  it  is  not  very  honest  in  trade, 
and  other  failings  are  pointed  out,  but  for 
them  all  there  is  a remedy.  It  was  not  sur- 
prising to  hear  from  Mr.  Loomis  that  in  all  of 
our  dealings  with  the  Fukuin  Company  there 
had  never  been  the  slightest  ground  for 
criticism.  The  book  which  it  prints,  if  rightly 
used,  is  a cure  for  the  moral  ills  of  all  human 
society. 

The  Christianity  which  Japan  needs  is  not 


FUJIYAMA  FROM  LAKE  HAKONE 

a superficial  veneer,  nor  an  alloy  compound- 
ing the  gospel  with  baser  metal.  Nothing 
less  than  the  whole  Bible  and  the  whole 
counsel  of  God  will  avail. 

We  sailed  from  Yokohama  May  29th  on 
the  Japanese  steamer  Hofigkong  Maru,  this 
being  the  sixteenth  ocean-going  vessel  on 
which  I had  traveled  since  leaving  New 
York,  and  after  the  seventeen  days  on  the 
Pacific,  having  been  afloat  nearly  three 
months. 

Our  ship  stopped  for  twelve  daylight  hours 
in  Honolulu,  whose  enchanting  beauty  seemed 
the  aftermath  of  Japan.  Better  than  that 
was  a memorable  hour  spent  there  with  a 
master  Bible  translator,  Dr.  Hiram  Bingham, 
who,  after  thirty-one  years,  finished  in  1890 
his  translation  of  the  Bible  for  the  Gilbert 
Islanders  in  Micronesia. 

Such  an  interview  was  a good  finale  to  all 
our  journeyings. 


